Anna continued to fund the Russian Academy of Science, started by Peter the Great. This school was designed to further the sciences in Russia, in order to help the country reach the level of the Western countries of that period. Some of the subjects taught were mathematics, astronomy, and botany. The Academy of Science was also responsible for many expeditions; a notable example was the Bering Sea Expedition. While they were trying to find out if America and Asia had been at one point connected, they also studied Siberia and its people. These studies were used long after they returned from Siberia.