Mikhail Lomonosov Memorial

Mikhail Lomonosov Memorial

"Combining the formidable will-power and the formidable strength of perception, Lomonosov embraced all the branches of learning. A thirst for a deeper appreciation of things proved an overwhelming passion with that impassioned spirit. A historian, rhetorician, mechanic, chemist, mineralogist, artist and poet, he had experienced it all and perceived it all ..." (Alexander Pushkin)

Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilyevich (1711-65), Russian writer, chemist, and astronomer, who made important contributions to both literature and science.
Lomonosov was born November 19, 1711, in Denisovka (now Lomonosov), near Arkhangel'sk, and educated at the University of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, in Saint Petersburg. After studying in Germany, at the universities of Marburg and Freiberg, Lomonosov returned to St. Petersburg to teach chemistry in 1745 and built a teaching and research laboratory there four years later.
Often called a founder of Russian science, Lomonosov was an innovator in many fields. As a scientist he rejected the phlogiston theory of matter commonly accepted at the time (see Chemistry), and he anticipated the kinetic theory of gases. He regarded heat as a form of motion, suggested the wave theory of light, and stated the idea of conservation of matter. Lomonosov was the first person to record the freezing of mercury, and to observe the atmosphere of Venus during a solar transit.
Interested in furthering Russian education, Lomonosov helped to found the Moscow State University in 1755, and in the same year wrote a grammar that reformed the Russian literary language by combining Old Church Slavonic with the vulgar tongue. He published the first history of Russia in 1760 and invented a new system of meter in his poetry, which consisted mostly of eloquent odes. He also revived the art of Russian mosaic and built a mosaic and colored-glass factory. Most of his accomplishments, however, were unknown outside Russia until long after his death in St. Petersburg on April 15, 1765.

..Alexander Pushkin [a great Russian poet] was quite right when he wrote about the giant of 18th century world science: "Combining the formidable will-power and the formidable strength of perception, Lomonosov embraced all the branches of learning. A thirst for a deeper appreciation of things proved an overwhelming passion with that impassioned spirit. A historian, rhetorician, mechanic, chemist, mineralogist, artist and poet, he had experienced it all and perceived it all ...". M.Lomonosov’s work mirrored all the strength, beauty and vitality of Russian science that was pushing back the frontiers of contemporary knowledge, the achievements of the country which was able, ensuing Peter the Great’s reform, to narrow the gap between Russia and the foremost nations of the world, and catch up with them. Mikhail Lomonosov attached great importance to the creation of a system of higher education in Russia. Back in 1724, the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, founded by Peter the Great, had instituted a university and a grammar school to instruct the future scholars and scientists of Russia. However, neither the university nor the grammar school proved up to the mark. And it is for this reason that Lomonosov had on many occasions brought up the idea of opening a university in Moscow. His suggestions--spelled out in a letter to I.I. Shuvalov--laid the groundwork for the blueprint of Moscow University. Shuvalov, a favourite of the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, encouraged the advancement of Russian science and culture and supported many of Lomonosov’s enterprises.