Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov

Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov was the first Russian natural scientist of world significance, an encyclopedist, chemist and physicist, artist, historian, poet and writer. The future scientist was born on November 19, 1711 in the village of Mishaninskaya (now the village of Lomonosovo, Arkhangelsk Oblast) into a well-to-do family. From childhood he showed an interest in seafaring and often accompanied his father on voyages. At the age of nineteen he ran away to Moscow to avoid an unwanted marriage that his father was forcing on him. To enroll in the Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy he had to use forged documents and present himself as the son of a Kholmogory nobleman.

 

In 1736, Lomonosov, among the Academy's top students, was sent to Germany for further study. There he studied natural sciences, engineering, foreign languages and literature. Upon returning to Russia in 1741, he quickly gained recognition. In 1742 Lomonosov was appointed adjunct of physics at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and three years later he became a professor of chemistry.

 

Lomonosov made a significant contribution to various fields of knowledge. He developed the design for Moscow University, which later bore his name. Among his scientific achievements are the discovery of the law of conservation of matter, works on the theory of color, and the creation of many optical instruments. Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov died on April 4, 1765, of pneumonia.