M.V Lomonosov, our first university

V. Lomonosov, our first university”

1765)

was born in the village of Mishaninskaya,
Arkhangelogorodskaya province,

in a fairly
wealthy family near the White Sea. Vasiliy
Dorofeevich Lomonosov (his father) married
Elena Sivkova (Lomonosov`s mother). Vasiliy Dorofeevich was a good man by nature, but his up-bringing was not perfect. Lomonosov`s mother died very early, when he was nine years old. In 1721, the father married Feodora Uskova, the daughter of a neighbouring farmer. In summer of 1724 she died. A few months later his father returned from the sea fishing and married for the third time. The widow Irina Semyonovna Korelskaya became his wife. For Lomonosov, who was thirteen years old, the third father's wife was “an evil and jealous stepmother”.

Peter the Great, which even now are known in the

north. Mikhail Lomonosov was taught by the clerk of the local church S.N. Sabelnikov. He helped the villagers to write papers and petitions and also letters. Lomonosov understood the necessity of science and knowledge very early. "Grammar", "Arithmetics", "Psalm verses“ opened the “gates of learning” for the young Pomor . At fourteen he could write correctly and neatly. Life at home became miserable, full of constant quarrels with his stepmother.

The best moments of the Lomonosov`s childhood were his trips to the sea with his father, which were very impressive for the young man. Lomonosov began helping his father at the age of ten. They went fishing in the early spring and returned in the late autumn. Together with his father, the future scientist went fishing to the White Sea and to the Solovki Islands. Those dangerous voyages hardened the boy`s physical strength and enriched his mind by a variety of observations. The nature of the Russian North is easily seen not only in the language of M.V. Lomonosov, but also in his research interests, such as "the questions of the Aurora Borealis, sea trips, sea ice, the reflection of marine life on the land”.

going to Moscow. At night, when everyone was asleep in

the house, Lomonosov put on two shirts, a sheepskin coat and went after the wagons. The young man asked the fishermen to go with them. Lomonosov carefully thought out the plan of his escape. He heard that only in three Russian cities - Moscow, Kiev and St. Petersburg - he could learn the higher sciences. He chose Moscow. A long and difficult winter way was a sort of a trial for him. Overcoming all the difficulties of that way during three weeks with fish wagons, Lomonosov arrived at Moscow in January, 1731, where he did not know anybody.

fellows spent hours carelessly, Mikhail Lomonosov spent time in the

library of the monastery, he read different theological books: publications and secular philosophies, and even physical and mathematical works. From the academic biography it is well known that after the first six months he was transferred from the lower form to the second, and then to the third. A year later, when Lomonosov mastered Latin and could write short poems in it, he began to learn Greek.

Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy
in Moscow

the University of Marburg on November 6, 1736. The Russian

students at the University of Marburg were very successful in learning different disciplines. Knowing German well, in October 1738, he continued to master Latin, and besides, Mikhail Lomonosov began to study French and Italian. Lomonosov successfully combined the study of natural sciences with literary pursuits. In Marburg he learned more about the modern German literature. Lomonosov liked to study not only theoretical questions of western literature, but also the practical questions of poetical translation. In 1739 Lomonosov graduated from the university in Marburg. And soon he was going to Freiberg to study metallurgy and mining.

The house where Lomonosov lived in Marburg.

to Freiberg. On July 14, 1739 they arrived in the

oldest metallurgical center. After their independent and free life in Marburg, Russian students got into total submission of the strict and pedantic J. F. Henkel. Henkel started his training course with the lessons on mineralogy and metallurgy. The teaching course was based on practical skills: the students visited mines and metallurgical plants and also they had to explain those production processes. Later, in his book "The Fundamentals of Metallurgy and Mining " Lomonosov used his knowledge and experience, gained in Freiberg. In May, 1740, Lomonosov left Freiberg and hoped to come back to Russia. But after arriving in Leipzig, he could not meet with the Russian envoy and then his life was so hard and all those roamings lasted more than a year.

The Monument to Mikhail Lomonosov in Freiberg, Germany.

Lomonosov was sent to the professor of botany and natural

history I. Amman. That professor was only four years older than Lomonosov. In 1745 he wanted to give public lectures in Russian. At the same time Lomonosov worked and gave lessons in the sphere of mineralogy, physics and chemistry and printed several scientific treatises in Latin.

St. Petersburg, the Academy of Sciences.
Drawing by M.I. Makhayev, 1753.

The Diploma of the professor of chemistry,1745.

house of the widow of a Marburg brewer. After two

years, in February 1739, Mikhail Lomonosov married her daughter Elizabeth Christine Tsilh . On the 8th of November , 1739, they had a daughter and named her Catherine Elizabeth. The son of Lomonosov, who was born in Germany in December, 1741, died in Marburg in January, 1742. The first daughter of Lomonosov died in 1743. In February 21, 1749, in St. Petersburg, Lomonosov`s daughter Elena was born. So, Mikhail Vasilievich had no sons.The only daughter Elena (1749-1772) was married to Alexei Konstantinov, the librarian of the Empress Catherine II. They had a son Alexei (1767-1814) and three daughters- Sophia (1769-1844), Catherine (1771-1846) and Anna (1772-1864).

heights (temperature, pressure,etc.),Mikhail Lomonosov developed an aircraft of the vertical

take-off . It was the first prototype of a helicopter , with two propellers on the parallel axles, equidistant from the center of gravity. However, the flights were not meant, just lifting the meteodevices.

associated with glassmaking, with the development of the glass science

and the production of glass, was more successful than the building of the first laboratory.

3 rubles, silver. The 250th anniversary of Moscow State University.
2011,

2 rubles, silver. The 300th anniversary of Lomonosov`s birth.

village of Lomonosovo

to express it more
correctly, he himself was our first
university.

(A.S.Pushkin)

Our literature begins with Lomonosov;
he was its mother and father, he was its
Peter the Great.
(V.G.Belinsky)