2020 Volume 3 Issue 3 (Published 17 September 2020)

Dear colleagues,  

The third issue of INEOS OPEN this year falls on September. We are gradually getting back to normal work and schedule. The Editorial board has decided to publish this issue on September 17 because this is an important date for us—the publication date of our first issue. Two years have passed unnoticeably, and we have become stronger and more organized. However, it is early to draw the conclusions—let's wait for round-number anniversaries to sum up the results. Especially if take into account that we have enough significant dates for summarizing. As a journal of an academic institution, we cannot help but think about the amazing upcoming anniversary—the tercentenary of the Russian Academy of Sciences which is less than four years away. The founder of our Institute—full member of the Academy of Sciences of USSR Alexander N. Nesmeyanov—is directly relevant to this Academy of Sciences. This is not just about his presiding of the Academy for ten years. The point is that, during these years, he reorganized the Academy so finely and productively that is still amazing how efficient and positive changes were implemented. Coincidentally, the 300^th anniversary of the Academy comes with the next round number for Alexander Nesmeyanov—the 125^th anniversary of his birth. Of course, this is a coincidence, but I would like to think that it is not that simple and we should prepare to commemorate properly both of these dates.

The coincidence of such remarkable dates is a good reason to turn to the comprehension of the wonderful initiatives which were realized in the Academy under the guidance of Alexander Nesmeyanov. This is very important now when the reorganization of the Academy is still continuing in a misleading direction. It seemed we had enough time to comprehend the scientific and organizational heritage of Alexander Nesmeyanov but it has not happened to date. Therefore, a major part of his heritage is not fully recognized. I call this unappreciated part of his heritage the riddles of Alexander Nesmeyanov. The first riddle is the creation of INEOS RAS, but this is the first riddle for us—the staff members of INEOS. The first riddle for the whole Academy is his understanding of the fundamental investigations and the role of the Academy in their planning and reporting to the society and global scientific community. Keys to these puzzles are very important for INEOS and, even greater, for the whole Academy since it is still adjusted to the so-called international standards, which kills its distinctiveness and originality allowing the Academy to remain one of the most efficient scientific organizations in the world's history.

Alexander Nesmeyanov did not ask any riddle; in contrast, the entire array of his activities illustrated a solution to the efficient organization of science, and he clearly stated the answers to questions about the role of the Academy and the way it should disclose its findings to the scientific community. We simply missed these solutions and examples. Inside the system, it is hard to see what it looks like and what is wrong with it. Only now, being artificially removed from it, we start to understand how amazing it was tailored, what a wonderful masterpiece it became under the guidance of Alexander Nesmeyanov. It is very important for us that the foundation and development of INEOS RAS is a key that can help us to find the answers to the multiple riddles which we have inherited.

Therefore, the preparation for these coinciding and remarkable dates should consist in the understanding of the strategy of Alexander Nesmeyanov relative to our Institute and the whole Academy and its development in the present circumstances, rather than cleaning the medals and tinting the frontage. In the remaining time, we have to organize the work for comprehending and summarizing our activity in the field of expertise along the lines suggested by Alexander Nesmeyanov. And our Journal, INEOS OPEN, will be a useful and efficient tool for this. All the mentioned riddles of Alexander Nesmeyanov will be announced and discussed at the upcoming meeting of the Scientific council of INEOS RAS in order to plan the huge scientific expert work which our Institute must accomplish to commemorate the wonderful anniversaries in a blaze of new scientific achievements and, more importantly, in their fundamental comprehension.

Sincerely yours, Editor-in-Chief Prof., Full Member of RAS Aziz M. Muzafarov

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