Naturalist, chemist, physicist, poet, artist, historian, encyclopedist … This is just the beginning of a huge list of specialties in which Mikhail Lomonosov not only excelled, but also managed to make fundamental scientific discoveries for the benefit of all mankind. The fantastic rise of a village boy from the northern outskirts of the Empire to a world-class scientist to this day causes only mute delight and surprise. Lomonosov has become not just a significant figure in Russian history, but a whole domestic brand and a household name, which can only be earned as a valuable compliment.
One success story
Mikhailo Lomonosov came from a Pomor family in the Arkhangelsk province. The mother of the future scientist was the daughter of a deacon and a prosphora, and it is no wonder that family piety fully invested in her son. Lomonosov has been participating in divine services since childhood, reading in the kliros. There were very few books in the remote northern village, nevertheless Mikhailo managed to get hold of Melety Smotritsky's "Grammar", Leonty Magnitsky's "Arithmetic" and Simeon Polotsky's "Rhymed Psalter". The latter gave Lomonosov an idea of book poetry and laid the foundation for future creativity. Already at the age of nine, Lomonosov was losing his mother. The father marries a second time, then a third. Both stepmothers did not like Mikhail, the constant pressure of the family made the boy, who was striving for knowledge, to seek secluded places for self-education. At the beginning of the 18th century, in the edges of the Russian North, the Vygoretskaya Hermitage was organized and flourished - the real capital of the Russian Old Believers. Shrines from all over the Empire were brought to the settlement of the Denisov brothers, including many old books, which, in turn, were copied and published by scribes. Lomonosov lived in an Old Believer environment, prayed, read. But soon Lomonosov left the northern regions forever.
Self-will and a life of their own free will, extreme independence and magnetic craving for knowledge "directed the footsteps" of Lomonosov to Moscow. There Mikhailo searches for the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy and goes straight to the rector German Koptsevich. At the interview, Lomonosov claims that he is the son of a Kholmogory nobleman, and in conversation demonstrates a bright mind and a thirst for knowledge. Not knowing Latin, Mikhailo enters the junior class, endures the ridicule of his peers, but does not lose heart and is actively studying. The leaven of childhood helps to survive: Lomonosov reads the Psalter over the dead and chops wood for a reward. In 1736, the young scientist was among the best students sent to St. Petersburg and enrolled in the Academy of Sciences. Already in September of the same year, Mikhailo, with two student comrades, was sent to study in Germany. Once again as the best pupil.
In Germany, Lomonosov made his first serious literary experiments: a Letter on the Rules of Russian Poetry and an ode to the Taking of Khotin appeared. Studying was unbearably boring for the young and ardent Mikhail, he marries the daughter of a widow who rented an apartment to him. Soon Lomonosov returned to his homeland and in 1745 became a professor of chemistry at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Before that, due to a conflict with foreign scientists, Mikhail Vasilyevich was imprisoned for several months. "Morning …" and "Evening Meditation on God's Majesty" are born in a prison cell. Having freed himself and bringing public repentance, Lomonosov with renewed vigor began to build our national science.
Truth and Faith Are Two Sisters
Promotional video:
With these words, Mikhail Vasilyevich characterized the connection between science and religion, in no case opposing one to the other. Like any religious scientist, Lomonosov saw in scientific knowledge an instrument for discovering the laws established by God in our world. Mikhail Vasilyevich considered chemistry to be his main field of activity. But "Lomonosov's chemistry" lived in close interaction with a number of other sciences and went beyond the usual understanding of the subject. The scientist puts forward the molecular-kinetic theory of heat, empirically refuting the theories about caloric and phlogiston. M. V. Lomonosov claims that all substances are composed of corpuscles - molecules, which are "assemblies" of elements - atoms. The corpuscular-kinetic theory of heat was born, which made a contribution to the development of atomism and research on the structure of matter. The understanding of the relevance of the law of conservation of matter and force is directly related to the corpuscular theory and molecular-kinetic views of Lomonosov. In his dissertation "On the action of chemical solvents in general" (1743), he writes: "When any body accelerates the movement of another, it imparts part of its movement to it; but it cannot communicate a part of the movement otherwise than by losing exactly the same part."
Mikhail Vasilievich laid the foundations of physical chemistry:
Through constant experiments, Lomonosov proves the connection between chemistry and physics, forms a correct, verified substantiation of his hypotheses. According to the scientist, such income "revived the theory and made the practice sighted."
In 1748, Mikhail Vasilyevich, overcoming bureaucratic obstacles, opened the Chemical Laboratory, in which the technology of colored glasses was developed. This was a real breakthrough for the Russian glass industry, which had a very meager range of reagents. Lomonosov is seeking to obtain land for the construction of his own glass plant in Ust-Ruditsa, where the most important place is assigned to the laboratory. The new enterprise becomes innovative, and from a narrow range of products (beads, beads, glass beads and mosaic compositions) Mikhail Vasilyevich moves to haberdashery, tableware, writing instruments, flower beds, garden decorations, cast tableboards. Lomonosov's startup turned out to be one of the most successful for its time.
The scientist discovered the presence of an atmosphere on the planet Venus, designed optical instruments with his own hand, and laid a solid foundation for the Russian school of scientific and applied optics. The first night vision devices are also the merit of Lomonosov. He designed telescopes for the fleet so that the navigator could see rocks and ships at sea at night. On November 26, 1753, at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, a large report was made - "A word about air phenomena occurring from electrical force", which became an important milestone in the formation of the foundations of the theory of electricity. Lomonosov read the report in Russian, although it was customary to do so in Latin. Engaged in science, the scientist remained the true son of his people.
In 1759, as a result of experiments, Mikhail Vasilyevich was the first to receive mercury in a solid state. It is not for nothing that Lomonosov is called "the Russian Leonardo da Vinci", because it was he who developed the first prototype of a helicopter with two propellers. The scientist put into circulation the expressions "economic geography" and "economic land map", he was the first to come up with a proposal to update the maps every 20 years. Lomonosov came to the conclusion about the three-layer atmosphere.
In addition to natural sciences, Mikhail Vasilievich was also interested in state issues. His work "On the Preservation and Reproduction of the Russian People" is devoted to the theme of demography and, as a contemporary would put it, to the protection of life and labor of the inhabitants of the Empire. Lomonosov, as a scientist inextricably linked with the pen and the need to disciplinedly express his thoughts on paper, made his contribution to literature. The scientist compiled several works on rhetoric, which formed the basis of Russian textbooks on eloquence. In "Russian grammar" Lomonosov compiled a doctrine of parts of speech in the Russian language, in the book "Discourse on the Use of Church Books in the Russian Language" he put forward the "theory of three calmness" for building a system of Russian language and literature. Poets of the golden age of Russian literature would later call Lomonosov's poetic experiments exemplary.
In historical science, Mikhail Vasilyevich refuted the Norman theory, supported the Sarmatian one and insisted that refuting the legend about the visit of Andrew the First-Called with the preaching of Russia was a national insult and a refusal to the Russian people in antiquity and greatness. Lomonosov called the Baltic Slavs Varangians, which fully claims to be true. Until today, in colloquial slang, the word "Varangian" denotes an alien leader sent from the "center" or somewhere else, at the same time - his fellow tribesman. The main work of Lomonosov on history was "Ancient Russian History", which begins its story about the Slavs not from the pre-baptismal times of pagan Rus, but from the Roman Empire. Mikhail Vasilyevich founded Moscow University, which today bears the name of the great scientist and remains the most prestigious university in the state.
Persistent Christian
The research scientist is always on the dangerous edge of critical thinking. Lomonosov's inquisitive mind more than once or twice led him to confrontation with the Synodal Church. But the question of contradictions was not at all in matters of faith as such, but in disagreement with the church structure and some customs. Lomonosov himself grew up in the traditional environment of Russian Christians, read at the service, managed to live among the pious Old Believers, and was engaged in theological reasoning and in the translation of psalms into verse. Mikhail Vasilyevich honored Demetrius of Rostov as a spiritual sower and composed an epitaph on the saint's tombstone. Lomonosov, as in the clerk of talents, substantiated his adherence to the sciences by God's command:
"I would willingly be silent and live in peace, but I am afraid of punishment from justice and the Almighty Providence, which did not deprive me of my talent and diligence in teaching and … gave me patience and a noble team and courage to overcome all obstacles and spread the sciences in the Fatherland."
In March 1765, Lomonosov fell seriously ill and was bedridden. Three days after the communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, the servant of God Michael gave his soul to God. Monday of Easter Sunday.
Indomitable disposition, perseverance, thirst for knowledge, discipline of the mind, the ability to achieve one's own - all these are qualities that helped Lomonosov throughout his life. Yes, he was indeed a talent and a nugget from God, but it was through him - a Russian boy from a Pomor village - that the Creator opened to the whole world the treasury of scientific achievements, on which world science still stands. Lomonosov was not just a discoverer. In his person, the Russian people, according to Ivan Aksakov, freely and proudly presented to the world their rights to scientific and educational independence. Lomonosov defended the sovereignty of Russian thought. And we?