Corresponding member I.V.Bychkov,
acting chairman of the ISC Presidium.

Former Chairmen of the ISC SB RAS Presidium:
1950-1954 – Corresponding member V.V.Zvonkov;
1954-1956 – Professor E.V. Pavlovsky;
1956-1960 – Professor V.A. Krotov;
1960-1964 – Academician L.A. Melentiev;
1965-1969 – Corresponding member M.M. Odintsov;
1969-1972 – Academician V.B. Sochava;
1972-1977 – Corresponding Member V.E. Stepanov;
1977-1992 – Academician N.A. Logachev;
1992-2002 – Academician G.A. Zherebtsov;
2002-2009 - Academician M.I.Kuzmin.

The East-Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (AS) was established in Irkutsk in February 1949 by a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and by a resolution of the USSR AS Presidium. About 200 research officers were on the staff of the research institutions attached to the Branch at that time. In 1957 the Branch became part of the Siberian Division of the USSR AS. In 1988 the Branch, and the Irkutsk association of scientific institutes were awarded the status of Irkutsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Division of the USSR AS (currently RAS).
Nowadays the Irkutsk Scientific Center SB RAS is a major academic multidisciplinary complex, which includes scientific institutes, the research supporting infrastructure, production organizations, and business units situated in the Irkutsk region, and in some other Siberian regions.

The Irkutsk Scientific Center includes institutes SB RAS:

The V.B.Sochava Institute of Geography
The A.P.Vinogradov Institute of Geochemistry
The Institute of System Dynamics and Control Theory
The Institute of the Earth Crust
The L.A.Melentiev Institute of Energy Systems
The Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics
The A.E.Favorsky Institute of Chemistry
The Limnological Institute
The Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry

as well as:
The Branch of the Institute of Laser Physics SB RAS
The Baikal Museum at the ISC SB RAS
The Department of Regional Economic and Social Problems ISC SB RAS Presidium.

Research supporting and infrastructural services within the Center are provided by the Departments of Philosophy and Foreign Languages, the Central Science Library, the Science Archives, the Laboratory of Metrology at the ISC Presidium as well as by specialized organizations: the “Akademicheskaya” Hotel, the hospital, the outpatient department, and the housing and communal facilities.

The Irkutsk Scientific Center has a well-developed housing and social infrastructure that constitutes the scientific township of Akademgorodok.

The ISC Presidium, which is elected by a general meeting of the Center, performs overall scientific and economic management.

The Center's staff is 3 700, including 1 100 research officers, among them 230 Doctors of Science, and more than 650 Candidates of Science. Six Academicians, and 6 Corresponding Members work in the Center.

The Irkutsk Scientific Center has extensive advanced, largely unique, research facilities. There are tens of astronomical, geographical and biological facilities and permanent stations operated by its institutes throughout Siberia, thereby providing great scope for comprehensive Earth science research as well as for multidisciplinary basic and applied research in varied branches of knowledge.

The research scientists of the Center have made a significant contribution to the advancement of national and international science as well as to the formation of the socio-economic potential of the Irkutsk region, and Siberia at large.

A meeting of the ISC Presidium

A press conference on the problem of East Siberia Pacific oil pipeline rerouting

They take an active part in the resolution of major environmental problems facing the region including conservation of the unique ecosystem of Lake Baikal.

The Irkutsk Science Center's Institutes participate in international projects and are base institutions for implementation of a number of international programs. Scientists of the Center are engaged in collaborative research with scientists from the USA, Europe (Germany, Switzerland, etc.), and Asia (Japan, Mongolia, China, etc.) .