The Siberian branch of the Academy of sciences of the
USSR (SB АS of the USSR) has been formed in Novosibirsk in May, 1957. In the same year, a unique Novosibirsk Akademgorodok ("Academic Town" or "Academic City") was created, which became the center of the Siberian branch.
The initiators who substantiated the creation of a large scientific center in Siberia, the founders and who played a prominent role in the formation of the Siberian Branch and Academgorodok were
academic-mathematicians Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentyev (1900–1980), Sergey Lvovich Sobolev (1908–1989) and
Sergey Alekseevich Khristianovich (1908–2000). So in the east of the country, then another scientific center appeared, not is inferior in importance to central Moscow and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), later becoming known far beyond the USSR.
The Novosibirsk Academgorodok, created in the 60s, was immediately thought of as an interdisciplinary integrated innovation center. The ideas of communication education, science and production have been implemented. Six months after the decision to establish the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the
Novosibirsk State University (NSU) was established. The university was built and developed together with the Novosibirsk Scientific Center, focusing on the training of highly qualified personnel for science and education. In January 1963, under the Novosibirsk State University, the
Physics and Mathematics Boarding School No. 165 (PMS No. 165) began to work for the most gifted schoolchildren — the winners of the Olympiads. Later, the same schools appeared in Moscow, Kiev and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). When creating the Academgorodok, a unique experiment of conservation architecture was also laid: using natural forest as a town-planning component. These ideas and principles served as a model for the creation of scientific centers in other countries of the world, for example, Orsey and Ex-Marsey in France, the world famous Tsukuba in Japan ("the younger brother of Akademgorodok"), and so on.
In 1991, during the reorganization of the USSR Academy of
Sciences, the department was renamed the
Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS) and its membership included scientific institutions of the West-Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Former USSR. Currently, the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS) is the largest regional branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, conducting research on a wide range of areas and disciplines at a high international level, and in some areas and disciplines being a pioneer and leader. Because of the scale and level of research, sometimes the SB RAS is called the "Academy at the Academy".