The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), founded in 1724 at the order of Emperor Peter the Great, reorganized in 1925 as the Academy of Sciences of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, restored under its present name by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation in 1991, is the highest scientific self-governing institution in the Russian Federation. The main task of the Academy is to advance fundamental research in the Sciences and Humanities, to conduct long-term scientific investigations closely connected with industrial development, to study new possibilities of technical progress and to promote maximum practical application of scientific achivements and developments.