By , Lomonosov's responsibilities included overseeing the Academy's Geography Department, Historical Assembly, University and Gymnasium, the latter of which he again insisted on making open to lowborn Russians. In , he was appointed a foreign member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, and in he was similarly honoured by the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna.
The same year, he was granted by Elizaveta Petrovna the rank of Secretary of State. He died 4 April , and was buried in the Lazarev Cemetery of St. Petersburg's Alexander Nevsky Monastery. Much of Lomonosov's work was unknown outside Russia until many years after his death, and even now it is more the extraordinary breadth of his inquiry and understanding, rather than any specific grand advancements in a particular field, that make him such a seminal figure in Russian science.
Among the highlights of his academic career were his discovery of an atmosphere around Venus, his assertion of the Law of Conservation of Mass nearly two decades before Antoine Lavoisier , and his development of a prototype of the Herschelian telescope. In , he arranged the expedition along the northern coast of Siberia that discovered the Northeast Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
His works also contained intuitions of the wave theory of light and the theory of continental drift. He made improvements to navigational instruments and demonstrated the organic origin of soil, peat, coal, petroleum and amber. Without knowledge of Da Vinci's work, he developed a working prototype of a helicopter. He wrote the first guide to rhetoric in the Russian language, and his Russian Grammar was among the first to codify the language.
His Ancient Russian History compared the development of Russia to the development of the Roman Empire, a theme that would become increasingly popular in the 19th century. His poetry was much praised during his lifetime, although it has been largely ignored by posterity. Lomonosov is remembered in central St.
During the Soviet Period, his name was given to the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, and hence to the nearby metro station, Lomonosovskaya. The Soviets also renamed the suburban town of Oranienburg as Lomonosovo. In a recent study to determine the most frequently cited Russian scientist ever, Lomonosov was a clear winner, beating out the likes of Dmitrii Mendeleev inventor of the periodic table and Ivan Pavlov discoverer of the conditioned reflex.
His wide recognition in Russia comes as a surprise to Westerners, most of whom to this day have never heard of Lomonosov. There is a handsome statue of Lomonosov in St Petersburg third image , and another standing before Lomonosov Moscow State University, which Lomonosiv co-founded in fourth image. The painting that you see there first image is the only surviving portrait of Lomonosov made during his lifetime. On the Kunstkamera website, they say this is a copy of the original; it is not clear where the original painting is now.
William B. Ashworth, Jr. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to ashworthw umkc. Petersburg Academy of Science. The Academy was highly respected in Europe. It was staffed at this time mainly by foreign scientists, for example Lehmann.
Lomonosov had a particular interest in mineralogy dating back to his German education. He noticed natural groupings or occurrences of certain ore minerals and noted that certain minerals typically indicated the presence of other minerals. This phenomenon is now called Paragenesis - the common genesis of related minerals.
He noted the constancy of crystal interfacial angles. Lomonosov also applied chemical analysis to determine the genesis of various rocks and proved the organic origin of soil, peat, coal, petroleum and amber.
On 6 June he married Elizabeth Zilch, the daughter of a former city councilor of Marburg. The marriage was kept secret for several years, perhaps because he feared that the authorities would not approve of the foreign marriage.
At last he was able to get in touch with the Academy in St. Petersburg and received an official recall to the capital. He reached it on 8 June It was not until that he felt able to send for his wife, who rejoined him in the summer of that year. In spite of his difficulties in Germany, he had been able to complete several dissertations on scientific subjects and to begin to compose the odes that later brought him fame as a poet.
The high regard for his abilities attested by his favorable reports from Wolff, Duising and even Henkel, made a deep impression at the Academy, and soon after his return he was made adjunct in the Class of Physical Science. His salary was rubles a year, an ample sum at the time, but unfortunately the Academy had no funds to pay it, and so he was given the privilege of buying books at the Academy bookshop for a nominal sum and then selling them for whatever he could get.
After breaking with one of his masters, the chemist Johann Henckel, and many other mishaps, Lomonosov returned in July to St. The Academy, which was directed by foreigners and incompetent nobles, gave the young scholar no precise assignment, and the injustice insulted him.
His violent temper and great strength sometimes led him to go beyond the rules of propriety, and in May he was placed under arrest. Two odes sent to Empress Elizabeth won him his liberation in January , as well as a certain poetic prestige at the Academy. Affairs at the Academy at this time were in a very confused state. Schumacher had been running the Academy in a very despotic fashion and had favored the German members at every turn; Russia was then governed by Biron, the incompetent favorite of Empress Anne, but when she died the throne was taken by Elizabeth II, daughter of Peter the Great, and Biron fell from power.
The enemies of Schumacher and he had many were then able to attack him openly and finally bring about his arrest. Lomonosov sympathized with Schumacher's opponents, since as a patriotic Russian he felt that the German party had gained too much power in the Academy.
He believed that Schumacher himself was responsible for many of the difficulties that had occurred. His own position was not too strong, for he himself was engaged in quarrels with various employees of the Academy, sometimes resulting in physical violence. As a result he was placed under house arrest and was freed only after a public apology.
Schumacher was soon cleared of the charges against him and resumed his former position of authority. After this, however, there was constant discord between the two men, and their struggles for advantage greatly interfered with Lomonosov's later scientific activities.
Concerned about the distribution of education in Russia, Lomonosov insisted on the creation of a Russian University of European style accessible to all social groups of the population. His efforts were crowned with success in On his project there was founded the university in Moscow. Lomonosov did much for the development of Russian science, which gave rise to Russian scientists and professors who in turn could teach at the university. The last years of Lomonosov's life were not happy ones.
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