Abstract: In this jubilee essay the author presents the main scientific and pedagogical contributions of the prominent Russian scholar Nataliya Vadimovna Ryndina, professor at the Section of Archaeology of the History Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University. N. V. Ryndina graduated from the Section of Archaeology of the History Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1958, worked from being a research assistant to becoming a full-tenured professor, became a Candidate of Historical Studies in 1967 and a Doctor of Historical Studies in 1994. N. V. Ryndina advanced the topics of metallurgy and the jewellery-making craft in Medieval Great Novgorod. N. V. Ryndina is currently studying the cultures and societies of the Bronze Age Balkans, Danube Delta, Near East, Caucasus and other regions. She is also the head of the metallographic laboratory at the Section of Archaeology and is examining the general questions regarding the history of Ancient metallurgy. N. V. Ryndina has created a unique databank of nonferrous metal microstructure probes. She is also the author of about 150 scientific and educational works, she directed the Trypillian expedition from 1977 to 1986, and was the research advisor for 35 students, 11 graduate students and 2 Doctors of Historical Sciences. N. V. Ryndina was bestowed with the honorary title of “Distinguished Professor of Moscow University” in 2015.

Keywords: Nataliya Vadimovna Ryndina, professor, section of archaeology, ancient metallurgy, jewellery-making craft, Medieval Great Novgorod, Bronze Age, laboratory of metallography, nonferrous metal microstructure, Trypillian expedition

Abstract: This introductory article presents the results from the work of the conference held in Volgograd in 2014, the proceedings of which are published in this journal. The discussion entails the achievements in modern German studies by Russian and German scholars, as well as the issues that are still debated. The democratic potential of the German revolution of 1918–1919 was implemented only at the level of declarations and legal texts, yet it did not become the guiding line in policy-making neither for the active population, nor for the government agencies. The conference articles substantiate this conclusion on the example of the ideological climate of the Weimar republic, the conduct of its military and political elite, and of its diplomatic corpus. These articles address practically the whole range of topics and views comprising the modern historiography on Weimar Germany. The author underlines the thematic continuity and genetic inseparability of the Russian and Soviet scholarships in the study of the first formative years of Weimar history and at the same time focuses his attention on the newest trends in the modern perception of Germany after the end of the First World War. Some question that were previously actively discussed, above all the socio-economic transformation during the establishment of the Weimar republic, today have become of secondary importance and are not popular topics among the younger generation of scholars.

Keywords: Reichspräsident, Reichswehr, democratic transition, Weimar republic, German revolution, First World War, diplomacy, fascism, historiography, elites

Abstract: The article publishes the paper read by the author on May 15th 2014 at Lomonosov Moscow State University’s jubilee assembly dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the restoration of historical studies in Russia and the same anniversary of Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Faculty of History. The paper demonstrates the main periods in the development of history as a science and education discipline at Moscow State University from its foundation to our days, it discusses the role of the 1934 stature “On the teaching of civil history in USSR schools”, and presents a detailed description of the contemporary state of activity of the university’s Faculty of History. Currently, the historians of MSU are dealing with the transition to a new system of education, which poses the problems of developing new standards of education, of writing new textbooks, including a general schoolbook of history, of creating education internet resources, and of replacing the whole system of education by establishing far-reaching interactive communications between teachers and students. The article further names the research priorities of the Faculty of History, the new areas of scientific activity of the university’s scholars-historians, and those achievements, which represent the fundamental and long-term base, the creative approach and preservation of the foremost traditions of the university’s scientific school. One of the main contemporary aims of this institution is the creation of breakthrough studies, the transition from individual efforts to expert centers, from collective generalization to collective studies.

Keywords: history, historical science, history education, reinstatement, Moscow State University, Faculty of History, scientific schools, research objectives, education standards, traditions and innovations.

Abstract: the article describes the stages of development of the Russian Academy of Sciences and its reorganisation. The author concludes that the path of development of the Academy of Sciences from 1747 to 1991 strengthened its internal structure and the potential of the Academy of Sciences in order to create an optimal research environment and to advance the strategic interests of the country. The latest achievements of the RAS are discussed and the performance criteria of scientific work, in particular - the world’s citation indexes, are reviewed. The RAS’s concept of the reorganisation of the Russian Academy of Sciences which was submitted in 2013 to the State Duma as a draft federal law (DFL) is analysed in terms of the history of the Academy, its traditions and the challenges it faces. Corrections which are addressing a number of provisions of the DFL are suggested, with a view to developing science and the social and political situation, as well as ethical and legal norms of civil society.

Keywords: History, Russian Academy of Sciences, the reforms scientometrics performance criteria of scientific work, the traditions, the federal law, civil society, competitive advantages, a national treasure.