On November 19, 1711, the future Russian scientist and art worker Mikhail Lomonosov was born.
He was born in the village of Mishaninskaya (now the village of Lomonosovo) of the Arkhangelsk province.
His father was a farmer who, through hard work, became a wealthy fisherman and transport contractor.
A number of sources claim that the Lomonosovs came from the Pomors, a special ethnographic group of Russians who lived on the shores of the White and Barents Seas, but recently this statement has been questioned.
"The version of Lomonosov's Pomor origin is not confirmed by objective facts," said Vitaly Zakharov, professor at Moscow State Pedagogical University, in a conversation with RT.
Pursuit of knowledge
According to historians, Mikhail helped his father in the fishing industry since childhood.
At the same time, young Lomonosov early showed a penchant for spiritual and intellectual pursuits.
Having learned to read and write from a local sexton, Mikhail read all the books that he could find in the vicinity.
“For some time, young Lomonosov communicated with the Old Believers and in their community comprehended the Old Believer version of the Law of God.
But later he completely moved away from them, "historian and writer Dmitry Volodikhin told RT.
At the same time, a tense atmosphere reigned in the Lomonosov family: Mikhail lost his mother early, and the relationship with his stepmother did not work out - the domineering woman considered reading books a waste of time and in every possible way turned the boy's father against him. When Mikhail grew up, they tried to marry him without consent. This prompted the young man to make the decision to run away from home. Mikhail got himself a passport and joined the fish train, which was heading for Moscow.
The journey took Lomonosov about three weeks.
In Moscow, he passed himself off as the son of a nobleman and entered the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy.
By that time, Mikhail was nineteen years old.
Although formally he was suitable for admission in terms of age, most of the students were noticeably younger, and Lomonosov, who was constantly ridiculed by them, felt uncomfortable.
However, despite this, he studied diligently and, in addition to the exact sciences, showed a penchant for literature.
For writing poetry, Lomonosov even received the nickname "Virgil" at the academy.
According to historians, the father tried to force Mikhail to return home and, to be more convincing, refused to support him financially.
Therefore, during his studies, Lomonosov lived very poorly on a tiny scholarship.
As graduation approached, he was faced with the question of his future career.
The prospect of becoming a petty employee did not appeal to Lomonosov.
He tried to get a job as a missionary priest in the Orenburg expedition, but at the same time indicated in the documents that his father was allegedly also a priest.
So a discrepancy in the data on its origin surfaced.
In the end, Mikhail did not get into the Orenburg expedition, but, given his desire for knowledge, he was forgiven for deception upon admission.
Moreover, in 1735, among the most gifted students, he was transferred to St. Petersburg to continue his studies at the university at the Academy of Sciences, where he studied mathematics, natural sciences, studied foreign languages and continued to practice poetry.
Pond at the restored Lomonosov estate (now the Lomonosov Museum) in the village of Lomonosovo
© Wikimedia Commons
However, in St. Petersburg, Lomonosov did not study for long.
Back then, Russia needed mining chemists to take part in the exploration of Siberia.
There was no one to train specialists of such a profile in the Russian capital, and therefore it was decided to send a group of students to continue their education in Germany.
Among them was Lomonosov.
In Germany, Mikhail studied in Marburg and Freiberg.
He studied chemistry, physics, metallurgy and mining, as well as foreign languages, dance, painting and fencing.
In addition, he became acquainted with the latest trends in European literature.
During his life in Marburg, Mikhail married the daughter of his landlady, the widow of a brewer and a member of the local city council.
In Freiberg, as a student of the German chemist Johann Henkel, Lomonosov got acquainted with the work of mines and the organization of metallurgical production.
In 1740, after a quarrel with Genkel, Mikhail decided to return to Russia.
On the way home he was forcibly recruited into the Prussian cavalry-reiters, but after a few weeks he managed to escape from the fortress.
Through Marburg and Lubeck Lomonosov returned to St. Petersburg.
Lomonosov's Marburg University passport.
May 13, 1741 (Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov. 275 years from the date of birth. Cut photo album. M .: Planet. 1986)
© Wikimedia Commons
On the way, a mysterious story happened to Lomonosov.
He dreamed of his dead father on a small island they visited while fishing.
When Mikhail, by correspondence, tried to inquire about what was happening at home, he was informed that his father had gone to sea and never returned.
Lomonosov asked his fellow countrymen to check the island he had seen in a dream, and the body of his father was found in the very place that Mikhail had dreamed about.
A convincing rational explanation for this story, according to historians, has never been found.
Science and art
Returning to Russia, Lomonosov for some time did not tell anyone about his marriage.
According to historians, this could be due to the fact that he entered into a marriage without the permission of the leadership, and even with a Lutheran woman.
But when the wife began to look for her husband through the Russian diplomatic mission, no one punished him, and Lomonosov was able to transport his wife to Russia.
“Taking into account internships at foreign universities, Lomonosov received an excellent and versatile education, both natural science and humanitarian.
Probably, this was the maximum that could be obtained at that time, ”Vitaly Zakharov believes.
Nevertheless, Lomonosov's career future after his return to Russia was uncertain. The head of the Academic Chancellery, Ivan Schumacher, sent him to assist Professor Johann Amman in compiling a catalog of stones and fossils of the Kunstkamera. As historians note, the work was largely mechanical, and Lomonosov, who had an active nature, was very much weighed down by it. He continued to write poetry, was engaged in invention and theoretical scientific research.
In 1742, Lomonosov received the title of Adjunct Physics Class at the Academy of Sciences. Some time later, Mikhail found himself at the center of a conflict between the "Russian" and "German" parties in the academy. The role of Lomonosov in the proceedings, due to his still modest position, was not leading. However, astronomer Christian Winsheim, with whom Mikhail had a strained personal relationship, took advantage of what was happening to settle scores with Lomonosov and secured a ban on him from attending academic meetings. The offended Mikhail, having drunk hard, made a scandal for Winsheim and other members of the "German" party and was arrested for this. However, he was forgiven and released from punishment. One of the reasons for such loyalty, according to historians, was the fact that the odes that Lomonosov wrote were known at court and enjoyed great success.
In 1745, Lomonosov was elected professor of chemistry and academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences for his thesis "On metallic luster".
In addition, he received a noble status.
A year later, Lomonosov began giving public lectures on physics.
Diploma of Professor M.V. Lomonosov.
Issued in March 1751 signed by Count K. G. Razumovsky.
Stored in the St. Petersburg branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
(Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov. 275 years from the date of birth. Cut photo album. M .: Planet. 1986)
© Wikimedia Commons
According to experts, the scope of Lomonosov's scientific and cultural activities has become wider over time.
"In particular, Lomonosov restored the forgotten art of glass production for mosaics, lost after the 13th century," said Igor Kurukin, professor of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Doctor of Historical Sciences, in an interview with RT.
According to Vitaly Zakharov, after the establishment of a history department and a historical collection at the Academy, Lomonosov seriously took up history and entered into a sharp polemic with representatives of the "German" scientific party, who argued that statehood was allegedly brought to Russia from Scandinavia.
Reproduction of the painting by Alexei Kivshenko: “M.V.
Lomonosov shows Catherine II in her study his own mosaic works "
© Wikimedia Commons
"To this day, practically not a single major work of anti-Norman historians is complete without mentioning Lomonosov," Zakharov emphasized.
The administrative career of the Russian scientist also continued: he became an advisor to the academic chancellery, and was in charge of scientific and educational departments.
As head of the Geographical Department of the Academy, Lomonosov was involved in the compilation of the "Atlas of Russia" and developed precise navigation instruments.
It was Lomonosov who expressed the idea of the need to establish shipping along the Northern Sea Route, which was implemented already in the twentieth century.
In addition, in 1761, he observed the passage of Venus across the disk of the Sun and was the first in the world to establish the presence of an atmosphere in it.
Lomonosov also continued his studies in physics, chemistry, geology and introduced a number of new terms into scientific circulation.
In particular, it is he who is credited with the emergence of the term "economic geography".
He also proved that peat, coal and oil are of organic origin and proposed his own classification of rocks.
In addition, Lomonosov played an important role in the formation of the molecular kinetic theory, which largely anticipated the modern understanding of the structure of matter.
M. Lomonosov.
A word about air phenomena, occurring from electrical force.
1753 (Archive of RAS)
© Wikimedia Commons
At the same time, experts call Lomonosov one of the founders of secular literature and philology in Russia.
"The main merit of Lomonosov ... is in the creation of the Russian iambic and the ordering of the Russian chorea," wrote one of the biographers of the scientist, literary historian Valery Shubinsky.
According to Vitaly Zakharov, with his works in the field of science and art, Lomonosov deserves the title of "Russian Leonardo da Vinci".
“Lomonosov had the same encyclopedic nature and versatility of scientific interests, breadth of thinking and outlook,” the expert emphasized.
Mikhail Lomonosov
© Wikimedia Commons
An important merit of the scientist, he also calls the fact that Lomonosov was one of the initiators of the creation of Moscow University, which later became one of the leading universities in Russia.
At the end of March 1765, Lomonosov caught a cold and went to bed.
The pneumonia turned out to be very serious, and on April 15, he died in St. Petersburg, without completing a number of his large-scale projects.
Today, a number of settlements and educational institutions, minerals, geographic and space objects are named in honor of the great Russian scientist, naturalist and poet.
According to Igor Kurukin, despite his significant personal contribution to scientific research, the main achievements of Lomonosov are organizational and pedagogical.
“He was not just a scientist, but also an organizer.
At that time there were other prominent scientists working on their scientific topics, but Lomonosov passionately wished that new Lomonosovs would continue to work after him, he was constantly preparing students and creating new schools, "summed up Igor Kurukin.