Mikhail Lomonosov
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (Russian: Михаил Васильевич Ломоносов, scientific transliteration Mikhail Lomonosov Vasil'evič; * 8.jul / November 19 1711greg in Mischaninskaja, government Arkhangelsk. . † 4.jul / April 15 1765greg in Saint Petersburg.. ) was a Russian poet, scientist and reformer of the Russian language. He is regarded as a polymath in the Age of Enlightenment.
Life
Lomonosov came from a family of fishermen from the far north of Russia and learned as a boy navigation, meteorology, etc., but also acquired a basic knowledge of Russian grammar. His curiosity was so pronounced that he left the family against the will of the Father and 1000 kilometers walked to Moscow to begin her studies at the Theological Academy. Four years later he was sent along with some fellow students at the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. He sat in 1736 his studies in Germany at the University of Marburg (especially with the philosopher Christian Wolff) in philosophy, mathematics, chemistry and physics, and from 1739 to 1740 in Freiberg laboratory of Johann Friedrich Henckel in mineralogy, mining and metallurgy continued. In Freiberg he also worked extensively with literature. In 1740 he returned to Marburg, where he married the daughter of his landlady.
1741, he appeared again in St. Petersburg at Georg Wolfgang Krafft to write his doctoral thesis. Two years later, his wife Elisabeth -Christina according to the common child. From 1745 he taught as a professor of chemistry in a furnished by him teaching and research laboratory, but was very productive as a poet. 1750 called for the Empress Elisabeth him together with the poet Trediakovsky on to write plays for the New National Theatre, which he did with success. 1754/1755 he worked with the active support of the favorites of the Empress, Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov in founding the Moscow State University named after him Lomonosov University, with. In 1760 he became director of the University of St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. At the age of 54 years he died in Saint Petersburg.
Performance
Because he is regarded as a polymath, and in Russia many beginnings of scientific work are connected in numerous fields with his name, Lomonosov is referred to as the founder of Russian science. Science was in Russia at the time a domain of foreign experts, especially by Germans and French. Alexander Pushkin said about him that he had not only created the first university in Russia, but he himself had been a whole university.
Lomonosov disagreed with the - at that time widely accepted - the phlogiston theory and the first to formulate the idea of the conservation of matter in chemical processes. He was a representative of the atomic theory and prepared the kinetic theory of gases prior to concrete: after Lomonosov heat is a form of motion of the smallest particles. He assumed that light travels in waves and recorded the freezing point of mercury. When Venus transit in 1761, he observed around the planetary disk a narrow ring of light (Lomonosov effect) and deduced from the assumption that Venus had an atmosphere. He also presented first establishes a link between auroras and electrical charge in the atmosphere. 1748, he also developed a mechanical explanation of gravitation.
He established the principle of mass conservation (Lomonosov Lavoisier law ).
Lomonosov considered as co-founder of metallurgy, geology and meteorology, geography and cartography and the history of science in Russia. He also took care of the revival of the Russian mosaic art.
He also explained about in 1750 first the fatal for ships nature of the icebergs right: Since the density of the ice, 0.92 g / cm ³ (sea water 1.025 g / cm ³), must be 90 percent of the volume of the iceberg below the water surface. He studied in Germany and his German wife are probably the reason that the polymath, the German word for iceberg (Russian: Айсберг transcribed Aisberg ) has anchored in the Russian language. In 1763 he wrote the memorandum Concise description of several research trips to the northern seas, and indication of possible transit on the Siberian Ocean to the East Indies. He gave precise instructions for equipment and implementation of a expedition to explore this sea route, which should lead directly over the North Pole in his view. 1765, a year after Lomonosov's death, this was with three ships headed by Vasily Yakovlevich Chichagov place, but met west of Spitsbergen on compact sea ice and had to turn back.
Even during his studies in Freiberg developed Lomonosov - starting from the ideas of the Russian poet Trediakovsky - a new metric for its seals. He propagated Russian as the language and wrote in 1757 a Russian grammar, with which the Russian literary language was fundamentally reformed. This grammar is a combination of Church Slavonic and the former Russian slang linguistic fields in 1760 he published the first history of Russia.
In the spirit of ideas of Tsar Peter acting, Lomonosov was undoubtedly the most important innovators of education in the Russian Empire; at the same time he was the first Russian world-class scientists.
On him the foundation of a mosaic and stained glass factory in the current Lomonosov goes (formerly Oranienbaum ) in Saint Petersburg back. The Moscow University bears his name. Since 1959, the Lomonosov Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in science to a Russian and foreign scientists is annually awarded by the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov was immortalized on a modern Russian coin ( gold ), also a Medal is named after him by the Academy of questions of law, defense and security of the Russian Federation awards. His name also carry a bridge in Saint Petersburg, the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater mountain range in the Arctic Ocean, the Lomonosov current, ocean current in the Atlantic, a volcanic group on the Kurileninsel Paramushir and one crater on the Moon and on Mars. A 1957 operated until 1999 Russian research vessel was also named after him.
Works
- Polnoje sobranije sochinenii ( Collected Works ), 10 volumes, Moscow & Leningrad 1950-1959
- Selected writings in two volumes. Volume 1: Natural Sciences; Volume 2: history, linguistics, and more. Academy, Berlin 1961
- A chronological abridgment of the russian history. Translator and updated continuation by Georg Forster. Series: Print Editions. Gale Ecco, Independence, KY 2010 ISBN 1171484445