The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (abbreviated BAS, in Bulgarian: Българска академия на науките, Balgarska akademiya na naukite, abbreviated БАН) is the National Academy of Bulgaria, established in 1869. The Academy is autonomous and has a Society of Academicians, Correspondent Members and Foreign Members. It publishes and circulates different scientific works, encyclopedias, dictionaries and journals, and runs its own publishing house.
The current president is Acad. Nikola Sabotinov. The budget of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is 120 million levs, or 61 million euros. The Bulgarian Space Agency has a budget of 1 million euros and is part of the BAS.
As Bulgaria was under Ottoman occupation, Bulgarian émigrés founded the Bulgarian Literary Society on 26 September 1869, in Brăila, the Kingdom of Romania. The first Statutes accepted were:
Board of Trustees
Acting members:
The following year, the Literary Society began issuing the Periodical Journal, its official publication, and in 1871 elected its first honorary member - Gavril Krastevich.
In 1878, shortly after Bulgaria's liberation from Ottoman rule, the General Assembly voted to move the seat of the Society from Brăila to Sofia, and on 1 March 1893 the BLS moved into its own building, right next to where the Bulgarian Parliament is seated.
The Bulgarian Literary Society adopted its present-day name in 1911, and Ivan Geshov became the Academy's first president. The BAS became a member of the Union of Slavonic Academies and Scientific Communities in 1913, and was accepted as member of the International Council of Scientific Unions in 1931.
The BAS has 9 main sections, more broadly united under three main branches: Natural, mathematical and engineering sciences, Biological, medical and agrarian sciences and Social sciences, humanities and art. Each consists of independent scientific institutes, laboratories and other sections.
Academia Peak and Camp Academia on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica are named for the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in appreciation of Academy’s contribution to the Antarctic exploration.