The impact of the relationship between Peter I and Leibniz on the development of science in Russia

Peter the Great (1672-1725), Tsar of Russia, travelled to Western Europe specifically to German Lands, to familiarize himself with new developments and to contact with men of science, like Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716). The aim of this article is to analyze Peter the Ist relationship with Leibniz, in order to understand better how and in what way the influence of Leibniz’s ideas was reflected in the formation and later in the development of Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences and Arts. The analysis of their correspondence, of meetings and of the projects (memoranda) that Leibniz presented to the Tsar for the modernization of Russia enable us to know better Leibniz’s influences on the creation of the Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg as well as on the ideas for Tsar’s Academy, such as the universality of knowledge and the meaning of scientific knowledge as theory for practice, Theoria cum praxi, also lemma for Leibniz’s Berlin Academy. ; Preprint