Grand Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, also known as the poet who published under the penname K.R., served as president of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1889-1915. His closest associate and vice-presi dent was classical philologist P.V. Nikitin. Both administrators believed in the right of Russian science to an independent existence. In the relatively calm late 19th century, the Grand Prince’s activities assisted Academy’s development and its financial well-being. During the political storms of the early 20th century, howev er, his attempts to subject academicians to ideological pressure harmed the institu tion. In this troubled time Nikitin advanced the principle of the Academy’s non involvement in politics, while granting its individual members full freedom of pub lic and political action as private persons.