In Russia, Peter I established orders as honorary state awards for special achievements in an attempt to create effective means of stimulating state service. Members of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences could earn their decorations through three possible paths: as an award from the imperial court, through a petition by a government office for which they rendered certain services (apart from their membership in the Academy), and as an award for Academy services pro per, i.e. for scientific activity.
On 6 August 1783, Catherine П conferred the Order of Saint Anna on academician F. U. T. Aepinus (1724-1802). He became the first public scientific figure recognized by the state with such a decoration. Out of 112 actual members (academicians and adjuncts) of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences during the eighteenth century, the state awarded orders to fifteen academicians, or 13% of the general membership of the Academy at that time. Academicians received the Order of Saint Vladimir, 4th Degree, and the Order of Saint Anna, 2nd Degree. The awarding of orders did not take place until the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Thus, in practice, scientists were first awarded state decorations some sixty years after the establishment of the Academy of Sciences.
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