Abstract: the article considers historical aspects of formation and development of epileptology in the XX century. it provides interesting facts about directions of development of English, German, French schools of epilepsy. The contribution of parallel developing schools of epilepsy in the U.S. and Canada is highlighted. The article describes formation of domestic epileptology associated in the XIX century with the names of A.Ya. Kozhevnikov and V.M. Bechterev, and, in the XX century, with the names of outstanding Soviet scientists and organizers- D.G. Schaefer, P.M. Sarajishvili, Y.N. Savchenko, Y.i. Belyaev.Successful educational programs under the auspices of Ye.I.Gusev and A.B. Gecht are also outlined in the article.An important aspect of modern epileptology is the integration with other therapeutic areas and directions, such as obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, neurogenetics etc. The article describes the new direction in epileptology - study of "epilepsy without seizures" or epileptic encephalopathy version without seizure. Particular attention is paid to problems, solutions of which are necessary for further development of Russian epileptology.