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Mikhail Vasil'evich Lomonosov (1711-1765): Founder of Russian Science A Philatelic Portrait George B. Kautfman California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740 Foil A. Miller University of Pinsburgh, Pinsburgh, PA 15260 Almost half a century ago the eminent British physicist and X-ray crystallographer John Desmond Bernal stated (0, There are few names in the history of science that have been more strangely passed over than that of Mikheil Vasilyevieh Lomonosov. Because his life was spent for the mast part beyond the confines of the scientific world of the eighteenth century, his ideas and his influencenever made themselves felt outside Russia, hut there he is revered as the real founder of Russian science with as just a title as Leihniz in Germany or Franklin in the United States. Yet, despite the recent publication of an English translation of a detailed and scholarly Russian biography (2), the name of Lomonosov (pronounced Luh-muh-nohl-suf) still remains largely unknown, particularly among Englishspeaking chemists. A true Renaissance man in the widest sense of the term, Lomonosov occupied a unique position in the history of Russian culture and science, and he was one of the most educated men of his time (3). (Lomouosov's portrait is shown on stamp no. 3, issued hy Romania to commemorate his 250th birthday.) Not content with being the first great Russian scientist and being active in physics (4), geochemistry (101, astronomy, cartography, chemistry (5-9), geology (II), glassmaking, technology, and the organization of science in his backward, isolated homeland (12), he also made valuable contributions to history, languages, poetry, philosophy (131, literature, art, education, and social reform.
(Stamp nos. 2, 6, 10, 12, and 14 depict these multifaceted activities of Lomonosov's, showing him writing, a t his desk, and with symbols of science and writing such as a pen, book, globe, and telescope.) Aleksandr Pushkin, Russia's greatest poet and the founder of modern Russian literature called him "Russia's first university". Because Lomonosov has been honored by a number of philatelic issues exceeded, among chemists, only by the Curies and by Pasteur, this series seems an ideal place to bring to this unjustly neglected scholar the wider recognition that his pioneering contrihutions so richly deserve (14). (The Lomonosov Museum in Leningrad is shown on stamp no. 7.) Early Life Lomonosov was born on November 8 (Old Style)/November 19 (New Style), 1711' in a most unlikely locale for the birthplace of a universal scholar-the small village of Mishaninskaia (later to merge with the neighboring village of Denisovka), a remote island in the Dvina River about 50 miles from the port of Archangel on the fringe of the Arctic Circle (1-3,15-27). (Lomonosov's birthplace is shown on the left-hand side of stamp no. 13.) The only son of Vasilii
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Russia continued to use the Julian (Old Style) calendar until February 1. 1918, when the USSR adopted the Gregorian (New Style) calendar. Thedatesgiven in this articleare in accordance with the Old Style.
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Dorofeevich Lomonosov, an owner of fishing and cargo ships, and his wife Elena Ivanovna Lomonosova (n8e Sivkova), the future scientist was a gifted child who learned to read and write a t an early age. At the age of 10 he began the life of a fisherman, but he also read whatever books he could find. By the age of 14 he had studied Smotritskii's Slavic Grammar and Magnitskii's Arithmetic, which also dealt with science and technology. When the few hooks that he was able to procure failed to satisfy his growing thirst for knowledge, he left his native village in December 1730, penniless and on foot, for Moscow, where he hoped to join the learned menon whom Czar Peter I ("The Great") was calling to transform Russia into amodern state along Western lines. Concealing his humble origins by pretending to he a priest's son, Lomonosov, on January 15,1731, entered Moscow's Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy. Here, supported by a modest stipend and looked down upon by the sons of rich nobles, he displayed his brilliant linguistic abilities, taught himself Greek, read the works of the ancient philosophers, 954
Journal of Chemical Education
Table 1.
Stamp NO.
ldentlllcatlonand Description of the Stamps
Issuing country Ghana Romania Romania USSR USSR USSR USSR USSR USSR USSR USSR USSR USSR USSR
Year of ISSUB
Catalog NO.
and comnleted the eieht-vear course of studv in five vears. Hoping ihar he c o u l d e x ~ a n dhis knowledge'of the nstural sciences at the Kiev Academs. one of Rusiin's oldeat educational establishments, he w&t there in 1734, but since he found the teaching no better than in Moscow, he stayed less than a year. In January 1736, as one of the Moscow academy's best students, he was sent to study a t the recently established (1724) Imperial Academy of Sciences a t St. Petersburg, then largely an institution of foreign, mainly German, scholars. (The academy building is shown instamp nos. 4 and 5.) The eovernment wished to train native Russians to nrospect the country's immense mineral resources and to establish new industries. Advanced education in science and technology was unavailable in Russia a t the time, and Lomonosov was one of three gifted students selected to study abroad for this purpose. In autumn 1736 he went to the University of Marburg, where he led the boisterous life of a typical German student while studying science for three years with Christian Wolff (1669-1754), from whom he acquired aschematic stvle of scientific descrintion that served him well throughout his life. Although ~ b l f and f Lomonosov respected each other's abilities, their scientific views differed. In 1745 Lomonosov translated into Russian a volume on physics by his mentor (Institutiones philosophiae experimentalis (Studies in Experimental Philosophy)),which sought to comhineNewton'sviews with those of Leibniz andDescartes and to reconcile atomic theory with the concept of acontinuous ether. At Marhure Lomonosov surveved the nrincinal achievements of ~ e G e r nscience, philosophy, anrl the'humanities. More snecificallv. he studied mathematics. ~hvsics.chemistry (wiih Juliu' G. Duising), mining, n a t u k history, mechanics, logic, hydraulics, and hydrotechnics, and he developed the idea of applying algebra to theoretical chemistry and phvsics. With a mind free of all preconceptions, he . . rejected the narrnw empiricism of Sewton's followers, and in two disser~ationson physics that he sent back to St. Petersbure (On r h Tronsformnrion ~ of a Solid Hod? int(, 1.1uuid and"0;~istin~uishi'ng~ L x e d ~ d d ithat e s consist of chains of Cornuscles (173%1739)). he dealt with the problem of the siruciure of matter and Z b l i s h e d the basiifor his future views on this topic. At Marburg in 1739 Lomonosov married Elisabeth Christine Zilch (1720-1760). The couple had three children-a son, Ivan (b. 17411, who died when a month old, and two daughters, Ekaterina Elizaveta (b. 1739) and Elena (b. 1749). In summer 1739 Lomonosov went to Freiberg to study mining with Johann Friedrich Henckel (1679-1744), an Aristotelian and an opponent of the mechanistic interpretation of chemistry that Lomonosov favored. As a result of a series of unpleasant incidents the good relations first existing between Lomonosov and Henckel rapidly deteriorated. The two soon parted comnanv. . .. but in less than a vear Lomonosov had masiered mineralogy and metallurgy. in 1740 he traveled thruuah - Germunv and the Netherlands, visitinr- vnriuus mines. During his Lehrjahre abroad Lomonosov's two lovesscience and poetry-were already evident. In SeptemberNovember 1739 he composed Ode on the Taking of Khotin from the Turks, dedicated to the Empress Anna (Czarina Anna Ivanovna), to which he appended Pismo o prauilakh rossiiskoeo stikhotuorstua (ALetter on the Rules ofRussian versificckon). These created quite a favorable impression a t court and became the basis for the classic svstem of Russian prosody. By the time that he returned (without his family, which he left in Marburg) to St. Petersburg (June 8, 1741), where he remained for the rest of his life, he was a mature scientist who had abandoned theology and ancient languages in favor of natural science and technology and Russian language and poetry.
The St. Petersbure Academv of Sciences to which Lomonosov had returned was directed by foreigners and incompetent nobles, and he joined the struggle of other progressive Russian scientists to convert it into a center of adianced, independent science and national culture. All of his creative activities were carried out under conditions of constant strife against the aristocratic elite and their bureaucratic functionaries. In these battles his violent temper and ereat strength sometimes led him to go beyond the rules of pkprletv. h s a result ofa conflict with C. N.Winsheim. Conference secretary of the Academy's Assembly, he was placed under house arrest from Mav 28,1743, to Januarv 19,1744. Although ~omonosbvwas ill during this time, it was a period of intense creativity for him, both in science and in poetry. His release and a reputation a t the academy as apoet were gained by two odes sent to the Empress Elizabeth (Czarina Elizaveta Petrovna, the daughter of Peter the Great), who ruled from 1741to 1761. However, he was forced to apologize publicly to those whom he had offended,and his salary as Assistant Professor (Ad'iunkt) of Physics, a post to which he had been appointed on January 8, 1742, was reduced by half for a full year. Despite these dire financial straits, the presence of his wife and family, who had come to St. Petersburg in October 1743, was most conductive to his creative work. Brought up with minimal contact with the Western scieutific tradition, Lomonosov, after only a few years of study in Western Europe, was able to understand it and largely to transcend it. According to historian of science Thomas S. Kuhn (28), Almost always the men who achieve these fundamental inventions of a new paradigm have either been very young or very new to the field whose paradigm they change.. .. Ohviously these are the men who, being little committed by prior practice to the traditional rules of normal science, are particularly likely to see that these rules no longer define a playable game and to conceive another set that can replace them. Possibly because of this very freedom from preconceived ideas Lomonosov clearlv understood a number of fundamental physical and chemical principles a century before they were generally recognized in the West. TheRussian historian of science B. M. Kedrov has divided Lomonosov's work into three stages-(1) theoretical physics (1741-174% (2) experimental chemistry (174%1757), and (3) wide practical interests (1757-1765) (3).Although i t is difficult to fit the multifaceted activities of such a polymath as Lomonosov into so simple a Procrustean bed, the division is a useful one that we shall employ here. Theoretlcal Physics (1741-17481 At a time when chemistry and physics were enmeshed with mystical ideas Lomonosov introduced a precise and clear terminology. In his Elements of ~ a t h e m a & a lChemistry (September-December 1741) (29) he boldly outlined his future physicochemical works, many of which he carried out, and he proposed definitions of elements, compounds, and molecules that are remarkably modern. According to Lomonosov, molecules are (18) extremely minute corpuscles, parts of bodies having all the properties of the latter and obeying all the laws of mechanics; the molecules are composed of atoms [he calls them elements] of different chemical principles. He theoretically deduced the existence of isomers 88 years before Berzelius (18): Different molecules must result from the same number of the same atoms if these be differently combined-there must be formed bodies possessing different properties, although having the same composition. According to Lomonosov (2a), Volume 65
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The mixed body [in modern terminology, chemical compound] is something which consists of two or more primitives combined in such a manner that each separate corpuscle in it has the same relation to its constituent primitives, as the entire mixed body has to all the separate primitives. This sentence foreshadows the laws of constant and multiple proportions established experimentally more than six decades later by Proust and Dalton, hut the experimental data that were then available on the quantitative composition of various substances were insufficient for Lomonosov to test his hypotheses. He also clearly recognized the necessity for unifying theory and experiment (3):A true chemist must be both a theorist and a practical worker. as well as a philosopher.
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During 1741-1743 Lomonosov compiled his 276 zametok po fizike i korpuskulianoi filosofi(276Notes onPhysics and Corpuscular Philosophy). These set forth the principal ideas of his scientific work, including the following remarkably modern explanation of heat (3): When it is warm, sound is more intense than when it is cold because the corpuscles move faster and strike each other more forcefully.. .. We must not think of many reasons when one is sufficient;thus corpuscular motion suffices to explain heat [heat or calorie was considered an element through the time of Lavoisier] . . .. Nature strongly adheres to her laws and is everywhere thesame.. ..The continuous formationand destruction of bodies speaks sufficiently for corpuscular motion. On June 20, 1746, Lomonosov delivered the first public lecture on exoerimental ohvsics a t the St. Petersbure Academy ofsciencbs. He deveio&d an atomic theory (174%1744), and in his oaoer On the IVeieht of Bodies (1748). in oooosition to ~ e i b & ' s idealistic monadblogy, he proposed G a t e rial monadoloev with monads, having form, weipht, and volume, which he-used to explain the nature of heat and the elasticity of gases. In 1745, the year that he was appointed Professor of Chemistry (July 25), he presented to the academy his paper, Meditationes de caloris et frigoris Causa (Reflections on the Cause of Heat and Cold) (30), arguing against weightless fluids in general and phlogiston in particular. He reiected caloric or ieneous matter. ideas accepted until the Aid-lgth century; demonstrated that "heat is nothine but the inner motion of matter", and explained heat flow bythe transmission of motion from molecules o i the hot body to thoseof thecold body. Ina foreshadowing of the idea of absolute zero he considered the most extreme degree of cold as the complete cessation of molecular motion. In a letter of July 5, 1718, to his friend and fellow academy member, the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Kuler (17071783). who was instrumental in havine the academv recoenize the importance of 1.omonosov's work. Lomonosov stated his first formulation of the law of conservation of matter and motion (2b):
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Every change that takes plare in nature occurs in such a way that if something is added to ac,mething else, the same is subtracted
from anorhrr bods. Thus matter added lo one body 8% lost hy another. The number of hours I sleep is subtracted from the time1 am awake. and so on. Since this is a universal law of nature, it also gwerns tl;e rules o f motion: n hody which jvlts another body to mwr lusesas murh of its morim as it impart* to the onr it stnrtrd moving. Lomonosov's papers Tentamen Theoriae de Vis Aeris Elastica (Attempt a t a Theory of the Elastic Force of Air) (31) and Supplementum ad Meditationes de Vis Aeris Elastica (Supplement toRef1ectinn.s on the ElasticForce of Air) (32) contain the first complete kinetic theory of the (molecules) occugaseous state. Assuming that t h e py a finite volume, he predicted a deviation from Boyle's law &r air subjected to very high pressure, an effect accounted for quantitatively in 1873 by Johannes Diderik van der Waals in his famous equation of state-(P + an2/V)(V 956
Journal of Chemical Education
Table 2.
Lomonosov's Physlcochemlcal Measurements of Aqueous Solutions
solubilities of salts at different temperatures densities ol saturated solutions at different temperatures volume changes on dissolution temperature changes during dissolution variations In density ol solutions wilh temperature from freezing point to boiling point
effectof solutlon on boiling point specificheats mutual effectof different salts on each other's sol~bilities rate of freezing effect of dissolved air refractiveindices capillary constants microecooic obsewatlons salon ol elearclly on so lnlonr color ol e e n r c sparrs and arcs m solutions
Cw~tallizatlonof solutions and examination of the crystals of salts deliq~e~cen~e regaining ofheat by self-cwledsolutions compared to those mled externally effects of pressure comparisons in vacuum and in alr nb) = nRT. Lomonosov based his theory of heat on the mechanical action of bodies in contact, and he used comuscular mechanics to a greater degree than Hoyle. In his paper Dirserlotiode Aclione Menstruorurn C h ~ m i corum in Renero (I)isser~otionon the Action 01~ h e m i r a l Soluents in General) (33) Lomonoso\ presented in 1745 his theoretical views on the mechanism of the process of solution, and he experimentally differentiated between dissolution with e ~ ~ ~ l u t of i o nheat 1e.e.. a metal in an acid). (in . modern terminology, chemica1"ieaction) and dissolution with absorption of heat (e.g., most salts in water) (in modern terminology, dissolving), a distinction usually credited to Lavoisier, who later (1789) differentiated the two processes. Lomonosov assumed that air is present in solid'and that this air, together with the air contained in the solvent, regains its former "elasticity" and breaks the solid into pieces, and the particles of solute repel each other with a vibratory motion. The latter view foreshadows van't Hoffs gaseous theory of solutions and is a departure from the view that solutions are chemical comoounds (25.34). Lomonosov, whom ensh hut kin and others have considered to be the first physical chemist, also proposed to make numerous physicochemical measurements on aqueous solutions (see Table 2). For lack of equipment Lomonosov was not able to complete this ambitious project. However, he did invent many of the methods and the apparatus required, hut few of these were constructed. He carried on physicochemical work for four years, but no laboratory reports have been preserved. Other scientific works carried out by Lomonosov during this period includes: description of a comet (1744) (a small portrait of Edmund Halley appears on the left-hand side of stamp no. 1, which was issued to commemorate Halley's comet and Lomonosov, who appears on the right-hand side); observations of the wave motion of air in mines (1744): a record of thunderstorms; electrical experiments (1745); a method for measurine temperatures a t the bottom of a frozen sea (1746); chemical analyses of salts, ores, and rocks sent to the academy; and a syllabus of lectures on physics. In 1743 he wrote two major philosophical poems combining science and poetry-Morning Reflection on the Greatness of God and Evening Reflection on the Greatness of God on the Occasion of the Great Northern Lights. In his ode of 1744. The Delieht of Earthlv Kines and Kinedoms.. he elorified dcience an; thd peacef;l flowering of ~ G s s i a . Since stvlistic and lexical contradictions abounded in the Russian literary language of the time, Lomonosov compiled a code of rules to he observed in literary works concerned
primarily with state, public, and religious subjects. His Ritorika (Rhetoric) (1748) was written in simple Russian language and intended for a wide readership. I t was one of his great achievements that in this brief book be established the basic tenets of the Russian literary language (2c). Experimental Chemistry (1748-1757)
As earlv as Januarv 1742 Lomonosov annealed to the ~hancell&yof the St. ~ e t e r s b u r gAcademy iisciences with aproposal toestablish achemicallaboratory at theacademy. After three appeals the first scientific chemical lahoratory in Russia was opened on Oct. 12. 1748. It was the first in the world where ;niversity studen~swere regularly taught practical chemistry (Liebig's Giessen laboratory notwithstanding) (1.5)'. The first research was begun there in January 1719. Housed in a brick building measuring -46 feet by -29 feet. it consisted of three rooms u,ith less than 1100 su. ft. of working area. At its 150th anniversary celebration i;l 1898 the Russian organic chemist Vladimir Vasil'evich Markovnikov called i t "the mother of all Russian laboratories". With the balances now a t his disposal Lomonosov was able to introduce quantitative methods into chemistry and to confirm experimentally his law of conservation of matter, both of which made him a true precursor of Lavoisier. Although he did not completely cease his work on theoretical phys& his primary interest now became experimental chemistry. Lomonosov's first chemical research work to emeree from the new lahoratory, On the Origin and Nature of ~ Z t p e t e r (Januarv-Februarv 1749) combined exnerimental results with theoretical speculation on the nature of chemical compounds and chemical affinitv based on his kinetic interwetation of heat. On septemhe; 6,1751, he delivered a lecture at a public meeting of the academy, Slouo opol'ze khimii (A Word on the Usefulness of Chemistry) (35,36), in which he presented chemistry as a genuine theoretical science rather than a purely empirical science. He discussed the problems of chemistry and chemical education, and he stated that chemistrv "reouires a hiehlv skilled practical worker and a u . profound mathematician in the same person." From 1752 to 1754 Lomonosov delivered a series of lectures for students titled An Introduction to True Physical Chemistrv. and be established the first laboratorv course in this disc$ine-some 130 years before ~ i l h e l mOstwald, generally. regarded as the founder of physical chemistry, . . . instituted such a program. Lomonosov carried out a large number of different chemical exoeriments durine this neriod. In his iuurnal for I751 he repoked his results wyth 74reagents and their interactions with various solvents. his work on elassmakine. .,. and his studies of many chemical reactions. In 1756, in an unpublished observation (37,. . .. Lomonosov arain adduced evidence for the law of conservation of matter as well as disproving an iucorrect idea of Robert Bovle's. In 1673 Bovle had calcined lead in a sealed retort. H; opened the retort, found that the weight of the calcination product exceeded the weight of the original metal, and concluded that "corpuscles of fire" had passed through the glass of the retort and were absorbed (fixed) by the metal (38). Lomonosov repeated Boyle's experiments, hut, instead of opening the retort after calcining the metal. he weiehed i t and its contents before calcination and after calcination before i t was opened and showed that there was no increase in weiebt. This work-the first experimental proof of the law of conservation of matter (39,40)anticipated Lavoisier's famous memoir. Sur la Calcinalion des ~ h t a u xdons les uaisseaux ferm&, & sur la cause de
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Actually, Friedrich Stromeyer had offered laboratory instruction to since 1806-almost two ~- students at the Universitat Gattinaen " decades oetore Leolg. See Inde. A. J. The Development of Modern Chemistry: Harper and Row. New Yor*, 1964' pp 261-264. ~
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l'augmentation de poids qu'ils acquirent pendant cette operation (On the CalcinationofMetals in Sealed Vessels and on the Cause of the Increase in Weight that They Acquire during This Operation) of November 12, 1774 (41), which formed the startingpoint for Lavoisier's work on the composition of air and his explanation of the phenomena of calcination and combination. Lomonosov's arguments that heat was not a material but a form of molecular motion was a t odds with the universally accepted theory of phlogiston and was far ahead of the natural science of his time (42). Within three years Lomonosov recorded more than 4,000 experiments in his laboratory journals on the manufacture of colored glass, and in 1752 he wrote a letter in the form of a poem, Pismo k I.I. Shuualouu o pol'ze stekla (Letter to I. I. Shuvalou on the Usefulness of Glass), to a powerful court official and favorite of the Empress Elizabeth. On September 25. 1752.. he ~etitioned the Senate (Duma) that he he . granted a site tu build Russia's first mosaic glass factory and a 30-year monopoly on glass manufacture (43.44). In Marrh I753 the l h p r e s s granted him the land and manpower, and in 1756 Lo~nonosovhuilt a mosaic workshop with a chemical and optical lahoratory. Between 1762 and l%4 he designed a large mosaic mural "The Battle of Poltava", depicting Peter the Great's victory over Charles XI1 of Sweden in 1709, and his mosaics were greatly admired during his lifetime. In 1753Lomonosov resumed his experiments on meteorology and atmospheric electricity begun in 1745 (A Word on Atmos~hericPhenomenaOrieinatine fromElectricitv. Dresented on November 26, 1753) ( 4 5 C ' ~ i t hhis friedd Bnd colleague, Georg Wilhelm Richmann (1711-1753), who was killed by lightning while performing experiments during a thunderstorm on July 26, 1753, he tried to devise methods for conducting lightning. On July 1, 1734, he demonstrated to the academva working model of an-aerodrome machine" that he bad invented. i n July 1754 he wrote a letter to Shuvalov outlining his plan for founding a university in Moscow. This institution. now known as Lomonosov Moscow State University, opened early in 1755. (It is shown on stamp nos. 8 and 9, which were issued in 1955 to celebrate its 200th anniversary; it also appears on stamp no. 11to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Lomonosov's birth.) On July 1, 1756, Lomonosov presented a lecture on A Word on the Origin of Light Representing a New Theory of Color (46). ~ o m o n o s &was &I accom&hed playwright, and he wrote his historical tragedy, "Tamira and Selim", in 1750 on order of the Empress Elizabeth. In July 1751 the academy published A Collection of Various Compositions in Verse and Prose bv Mikhail Lomonosou. Book One. Lomonosov's Rossiiskaiagrammatika ( ~ u s s i a kGrammar), published by the academv on Januarv. 13.. 1757. was characterized hv strict planning, completeness, richness, variety, carefully chosen examples. and independence and subtletv. of arammatical obseriation. It reformed the Russian language and hecame the countrv's most popular educational aid in the 18th century. ~om&osovis-considered the foremost theoretician of the Russian language, and the grammatical structure set forth in this widely read book was studied through the 1830's. Wide Practical Interests (1757-1765) During this period more of Lomonosov's time and energy were consumed by administrative duties. For example, he was appointed or elected to the following: Councillor of the academy's Chancellery (February 13, 1757); Head of the academy's Geography Department (March 1758); Head of the academy's University and Lyceum (January 19, 1760); Member, St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (October 10, 1763); and State Councillor (December 15, 1763). Yet he continued his research in various fields. In his Meditationes de Solido et Fluido (Reflections on Solid and Liquid Bodies) (presented on September 6,1760) Volume 65
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Lomonosov repeated his "universal law of nature9'-the law of conservation of matter and energy, which, together with his corpuscular theory, constituted the dominant thread of all his research. In this paper he also first described the properties of solid mercury; which he and fellow academician 1. A. Braun prepared on December 25, 1759. during the intenselv cold 1-41 O C I winter in St. Petersbure. In 1759 he inventei seveial astrknomical and navigational instruments. includine a self-recordine comoass. He sent his Rassuzhdknie o p&skhozhdeni lidianikh gor u seuernykh moriakh (A Discourse on the Origin of Icebergs in the Northern Seas) to the Swedish Academy of Sciences (July 1760). In Novemher of that vear the St. Petershura Academy s ridoslouek' i his Kratkoi ~ o s s i i s k oletopisets' (Short Russian Chronicle with Genealogy), written on command of the Empress Elizabeth. His Ancient Russian History from theBeginning of the Russian People to the Death of Grand Duke Yaroslau I or 1054. the first examole of modern Russian historiography, was published pos~humouslyin 1766. His heroic noem "Petr Velikii "(Peter the Great). an. peared in 1761. On May 26,1761, Lomonosov was the first to observe the atmosphere of Venus during its transit across the sun. He continued his work on exoloration with his Short Descriotion of Different voyages in the Northern Seas and a n Indication of a Possible Passage by Way of the Siberian Ocean to East India (September 1763). He was the first to prepare an accurate map of Russia. The academy puhlished his Fundamentals of Metallurgy and Mining Works (October 16,1763) and News of Russian Mineralogy (December 20, 1763). He also dealt with social questions, economics, politics, literature, and linguistics. Lomonosov's independence and anti-authoritarianism led to continuing conflicts with his German colleagues and the czarist government, particularly after the death of the Empress Elizabeth (December 25, 1761). His health began to fail in 1762. accelerated hv excessive drinkine. a common practice of the time. He attended a session of tge academy's Assemhlv for the last time on Januarv 28.1765. At 5 D m . on April 4, 1765, this many-sided geniis, whom Paul ~ a l d e n called "the Mendeleev of the eighteenth century", died of influenza. The Empress Catherine I1 (''The Great") had him buried with great ceremony on April 8,1765, in the Lazarevskii Cemetery of the Aleksandr Nevskii Monastery in St. Petersburg, where many of Russia's greatest men are interred. However, the Empress confiscated all his notes outlining his humanitarian ideas, his publications were purged of progressive and humanist material, and efforts were made to portray him as a court poet and upholder of the monarchy and religion rather than as the champion of popular education and foe of superstition that he had actually been. Although elected to membership in the Swedish Academy of Sciences (April 30, 1760) and the Bologna Academy of Sciences (April 17641, Lomonosov remained largely unknown in the West. Yet he has been amply honored in the Soviet Union, to which the large number of stamps shown here testifv. In 1948 thename of Oranienbaum. which is near St. ~eter&urg,close to the site of his m ~ s a i c ' ~ l afactory, ss was chanced to Lomonosov (2d). In 1960. when the Soviet interplanetary station Lunik 111circled the moon and photographed its hidden side, one of the craters revealed was named in his honor (47,48). For a number of years many of Lomonosov's works remained buried in the archives of the St. Petershurg Academy of science^,^ but the USSR Academy of Sciences has ~
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A recent (February 14. 1988)fire at the academy's library. one of the world's largest. is said to have destroyed 400.000 of its 17.5 million books, but we have been unable to learn whether any of Lomonosov's manuscripts were harmed in the conflagration (Sun, M. Science 1988, 24O(Aprii 8). 138).
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Journal of Chemical Education
published both his complete and selected works (4M3). For those who do not read Russian, German (37,541 and English (55) translations of some of his works are available. Acknowledgment
The authors are indebted to Henry M. Leicester for a critical reading of the manuscript. Literature Cited 1. Bernd, J. D. Nofurs 1940.146(36881,16. 2. Pevlova, G. E.: Fpdorau, A. S. Mikhoil Voailidch Lomonosou: His Life and Work: Aksemv. A,, Transl.: Mir: Mosmw, 1981: distributed in the U.S.A. by h p r t e d Publications: Chiesga: la) p 149; lbl pp 151-152: (cl pp 270-272: (dl p 126. 3. Kedmv, B. M. In Dicrionory of Scientific Biography; Oillirpie, C. C., Ed.: Scrihner's: New York. 1973: Vol. 6. pp 467472. 4. Timiriarev,A. K. UspakhiKhim. 1940.9.372. 5. Blakh, M.A. UspdhiKhim. 1340.9.362. 6. Bezboradou, M. A.M. V. Lomonaaov i ego mbofo pa khimii i rokhnologii silikotou; Akadamiis Nauk SSSR Mosmw. 1948. 7. Agafonova,T. N. Nankoui Zapishi Kiius'k. Do~zhau.Uniu. 1953,12(4).97. 8. Dotkov,L. L.ZhurStrukl.Khim. 1961,2,533. 9. Figurovskii, N. A. NTM, 2.Derh. N~rurmiss.,Tech.,Med. 1962.1(4), 4. 10. Leieester, H. M. Ann. Sci. 1976.33. 311. 11. Azizbkou. Sh.A.Izueaf. Akod.Nouk AzerboidrhonS.SR.. Sw. Ce01.-Gooemi . . Nmb i Nefti 1961.5, 3. 12. Psviava. G. E. V o p m s y I s l . 5 t Tohh. 1966,34. 13. Burmistenko, I. A. Uspekhi Khim. 1940.9.340. 14. Ksttenko, I. A. Uspakhi Khim. 1940.9.475; alist ofliterature anlomonoeov. 15. Menshutkin, B. N. Ann. Noturphilosophia 1905.4.204. 16. Menshutkin. B.N. Chem.Nelua 1912.105,73,85. 17. Smith, A. J. Am. Cham. SN. 1912,34,109; Science 1912,35,121. 18. Menshutkin, B. N. J. Chem.Educ. 1927.4.1079. 19. Gorbunou,N.P. UspekhiKhim. 1936.5.1613. 20. Daui,T. L. J. Chom. Edue. 1938,15,203. 21. Menshutkin. B. N. Russii'i LL~LLOLLL: Chrmiat. Courtior,Phyairiaf. Poof;P"nceton University: Princeton, NJ, 1952. 22. Tanaka. M.Kogaku (Kyoto) 1958.13.192. 23. Anon. Ukr.Khim.Zh. 1961.27.699. 24. BarzakovskiI, V. P. Zhur. Priklod. Khim. 1961.34.2589 25. Partington. J . R.AH~LaryofChamisfry;Msmillsn:London, 1962:StMartmh: New York, 1962; Vol. 3, pp 201-204. 26. Schirtz, W. Mirhail W. Lomonosaolu; Tcuhner: Leipig. 1970. 27. Komarova, T. A. Vostn. Mosk. Uniu., Ser. 2:Khim. 1986,27.346. 28. Kuhn, T. S. The Structure of Sciontifie Reuolutions, 2nd ed.; University of Chieaga Chicago, 1970: pp 69-90. 29. Lomonosov. M.V. UspekhiKhim. 1940.9,336 (areprint ofElemantaofMathamotieo1
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33. h m a n a o v , M. Novi Comm. 1750, i, 245: 1788: uii, 182. 34. Solou'ev, Yu. I. lafariio uehenilu a msfuorakh (History of the Study of Solurio~): Akademiis Nauk SSSR: Mosmw. 1959:pp 6.13.91. 36. Lamonasov, M. V. Uapekhi Khim. 1940,9,330 (8 reprint ofthe 1751 ledme). 36. Torocheahnikw, N. S. UspekhiKhim. 1952.21. 103. 37. Lomonossow, M. W. Phy8iholkeh-chemischp Abhandlungen M. W. Lamonossows (1741-1752l;tranal. intoGerman from the Lstinand Russian by B. N.Menschutkin Klsssiker der erakten Wisscnschaften No. 178: Engel. and M. S ~ e t e rOstWal& ; msnn: Leiplig. 1910: pp 26. 50. 38. Boyle. R. Essay of the Strange Subtilfy. Oreof Effieocy, Determinate Nature of Eifluuiuma. To mhieh ore onnext Neu Experiments to moke i'lm end Flame Pondemblu Together vilh o Discovery ofthe Perviouanesa ofDloa,; printed by W. G. for M. Pit* Landon, 1673. 39. Mishehanko, K. P. 120. Vyssikh Uchebn. Zauedenii, Khim, i Khim. Teehnol. 1961.4,
44. Leicester, H: M..I Chem. Educ. LJ69,46,295: 45. Lomono8ou.M. OmliodeM~leorisViEkcfrieoorIia,cumRe8p~~iiiiit ddM~1emis Isoliria aibi o h e r u d s ; lmperiai ~ c a d e m yofsciences: s t . petenburg. 1754. (A Word on the Origin of Light): 46. Lomonoaav, M. Slouo o pmiskhozdenii amto Impnial Academy ofScienas St. Peterrburg. 1756. 47. Aaimo", I. Asimov'e BiogrnphicvlEneyclomdia o f S e i ~ n r o dTechnolagy:mvisaded.; Doubleday: Garden City, NY, 1961; pp 166167. Martins%New YO&. 1 9 7 1 : ~216. 46. Satterthwaite, G. E.En~y~I~p~diaofAbflOnomy:St. 49. hmonosov, M. V. Sobronie sochinan;; (Coilecfed Works); 6 v o k Aksdemiis Nauk SSSR: Moscow, 1934-1948: include8 poetry: lingulafie and literary works; anides on the natural sciences, phpiea, chemistry, optia, astmnomy, and metallurgy; and cornspondenee. 50. Lamonosov. M. V. Sbornik stofoii mferialou (Collection of Articles ondMouriols): 17 uols; AkademiiaNau* SSSR: Mancow, 194a-1977. 51. Lomono~ou, M. V. Izbronnys filosofrAis proizuedeniio (Selected Philoaophi~ol Works): Gas. izdatel'stva polit Wry: Mosmw. 1950. 52. Lomonaau, M. V. Polnoa aobronie aoehinmii (Complete Collected Works); 10 uola; Akadsmiia Nauk SSSR: Moscow, 1950-1959. .53. Lomonosav, M. V. Izbrannye twdy po khimii ifirike ISeleel~dWorkr in Chemistry ond Phyaica1;Topehicv. A. V., Ed.: AksdemiiaNauk SSSR Mancow, 1961. 54. Lomonoasow, M. V. Ausgelu6hlte Schrifian; trsnsl. into German by H. Hdsel and E. John; Akadomie-Verbg: Berlin, 1961: eonfains works on natural science, hiswry, and linguirticr ar well as mllened letters. 55. Lomonosou, M. V. Mikhoil Vo~ilbvichLomowso" on the corpu.eu1ar Theory. Leicester, H. M., Transl.; Harvard Univenity: Cambridge, MA, 1970.
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