The Federal Scientific Center of Psychological and Multidisciplinary Research is the oldest and the first scientific institution in Russia specially created for research in the field of theoretical and experimental psychology. Its creative activity, aimed at the formation of an integrative research and educational complex of psychological science, has not been interrupted for more than 100 years. The intellectual efforts of several generations of the center’s scientists have laid a solid theoretical, methodological, and organizational foundation of domestic achievements in the field of psychological knowledge.
Establishing the Psychological Institute named after L.G. Shchukina at the Imperial Moscow University (its original name) is associated with the names of the outstanding scientist and educator, Professor Georgy I. Chelpanov (1862-1936) and the famous Russian entrepreneur and philanthropist Sergei I. Shchukin (1854-1936).
In November 1911, on Mokhovaya Street in Moscow, in accordance with a target project, the building of the Scientific Center (architect A.S. Grebenshchikov) was erected, which in those years turned to be the largest scientific psychological institution in the world in terms of scientific space (59 classrooms). To conduct scientific research, the Institute was equipped with a complex of modern scientific and technical facilities (150 units) and a rich scientific library including over 4,000 major publications and 15 titles of European and domestic journals.
The Federal Scientific Center of Psychological and Multidisciplinary Research began its work on September 1, 1912 under the leadership of G.I. Chelpanov. He developed a three-year scientific course for the training of professional psychologists. The students and graduates of the Faculty of History and Philology, who chose the specialization of in-depth study of psychology, were provided with lectures, scientific and theoretical seminars as well as practical classes in experimental psychology. Many of them became the first employees of the Scientific Center and made up the galaxy of the first domestic professional psychologists. Two years later, the Center turned to be a completely established scientific psychological institution, and on March 23, 1914, the Inauguration of the Psychological Institute officially took place. It became a "triumph of Russian science" and an important event in the life of the world psychological community.