Eastern Europe and China
"Academician" may also be a functional title and denote a full member of the National Academy of Sciences in those countries where the academy has a strong influence on national scientific life, particularly countries that were part of, or influenced by, the Soviet Union. In such countries, "Academician" is used as an honorific title (like "Doctor", "Professor", etc.) when addressing or speaking about someone. Countries where the term Academician is used in this way include China, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
However, since the reforms of late USSR dismantled the de-facto monopoly of the state on forming academies and allowed the creation of voluntary academies. While some of the newly created academies did improve the relatively rigid structure, the prestige and meaning of the title has been substantially undermined, as the title Academician could be awarded by associations of pseudoscientists or organizations that see their sole purpose of the existence of selling the title for money. Therefore, it became customary and almost compulsory to list which academy gave the title to assert its meaningfulness.
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Famous quotes containing the words eastern, europe and/or china:
“And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light;
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly!
But westward, look, the land is bright!”
—Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861)
“The heritage of the American Revolution is forgotten, and the American government, for better and for worse, has entered into the heritage of Europe as though it were its patrimony—unaware, alas, of the fact that Europe’s declining power was preceded and accompanied by political bankruptcy, the bankruptcy of the nation-state and its concept of sovereignty.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“It all ended with the circuslike whump of a monstrous box on the ear with which I knocked down the traitress who rolled up in a ball where she had collapsed, her eyes glistening at me through her spread fingers—all in all quite flattered, I think. Automatically, I searched for something to throw at her, saw the china sugar bowl I had given her for Easter, took the thing under my arm and went out, slamming the door.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)