Mikhail Lomonosov

Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov

Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711-1765) was a great Russian scientist, chemist, physicist, artist, historian, poet and writer.

He was born on November 8 (19), 1711 in the village of Mishaninskaya (Arkhangelsk province, now the village of Lomonosovo) in a wealthy family. From an early age, he loved going to sea with his father.

At the age of 19, after learning that his father wanted to marry him, he decided to flee to Moscow. Driven by the desire for knowledge, he arrives on foot in Moscow (1731), where he enters the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy.

Among the best students, in 1736 he went to study in Germany, where he studied technical and natural sciences, as well as foreign languages and literature. He began to collect his library, which included both ancient authors and contemporaries.

In 1741, Mikhail Vasilyevich returned to his homeland. In 1742, Lomonosov was appointed associate professor of physics at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and 3 years later became a professor of chemistry.

Lomonosov's contribution to such sciences as physics, chemistry, geography, astronomy, mineralogy, soil science, geology, cartography, geodesy, meteorology is very great.

Lomonosov's literary work contains works in different languages. These are "Russian History", the tragedies "Tamara and Selim", "Demofont" and many poems by Lomonosov.

In 1754, he developed a project for Moscow University, which was later named Lomonosov University in his honor.

Mikhail Lomonosov died of pneumonia on April 4 (15), 1765 and was buried at the Lazarevskoye Cemetery in St. Petersburg.