Scientific society (kruzhok) as a special format of informal communication in domestic science (for the example of Kapitza club)

This article analyzes the specifics of scientific societies for the example of P. L. Kapitza Club, which was founded in Cambridge by the outstanding domestic physicist P. L. Kapitza. The author considers the peculiarities of the activities of the scientific society, its composition, form of work, the further transformation in the conditions of organization of the soviet science. In the final part of the article concludes that the scientific society was an important form of organization of informal scientific communication. In its frames the active scientific communication and exchange of ideas between domestic and foreign scientists were happening.