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1. In the capital of Russia at the end of the second half of the XlXth century not only the higher educational and research institutions carried on scientific work; scientific societies were likewise engaged.

Among them a special place is occupied by the Russian Society of Physics and Chemistry, and the Russian Technical Society. The first was connected with the St. Petersburg University and the second was an independent scientific corporation. It was at this time that the Sixth Department (Electrotechnical) of the Russian Technical Society was established with its journal Electricity.

2. In the history of electrical engineering in Russia, the part played by the Sixth Department of the Russian Technical Society is outstanding. In prerevolutionary Russia there were only a few special scientific research institutions, especially of the applied type, and therefore Russian scientific societies had to use their own money for the elaboration of scientific problems because the funds that were allotted for scientific purposes were insignificant; they had to coordinate the efforts of individual investigators and at the same time conduct a broad programme of spreading scientific knowledge. In this respect, the activities of the Sixth Department are especially characteristic.

3. During the very first year of its existence the Sixth Department organized an electrical exhibition in St. Petersburg.

4. The exhibition consisted of eight sections: telegraphy and telephony, electric lighting and electro-mechanics, electricity in the army and navy, galvanoplastics, electricity in education, electrical measuring instruments, electrophony and, finally, literature and pictorial material on electricity. The works of such Russian inventors as Yablochkov, Lodygin, Rikhter, Ragozin and Teplov were represented in all these sections.

5. The exhibition not only paid for itself but also brought in a considerable profit which formed the main source for financing the first electrical journal.

6. The Sixth Department of the Russian Technical Society opened wide its doors to all interested in the new technical field, it especially attracted the youth. A. Popov belonged to this group of young people.

7. At the request of this Department O. Khvolson (1852–1934), an honoured professor of the St. Petersburg University, delivered a series of public lectures entitled "Electricity and Magnetism". Crowds of students from different schools in the capital and also already working in the field of electricity came to Khvolson's lectures.