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Pomor Polymath: The Upbringing of Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov, 1711–1730

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Abstract

The life story of Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711–1765) opens a window onto Russian science, politics, language, and social advancement in the era of Peter the Great (1672–1725). We cover Lomonosov’s background and upbringing, from his birth in 1711 near Kholmogory until his departure for Moscow on foot in 1730. The special character of the Pomor region, in Russia’s north, where Lomonosov was born and raised, is important for understanding his character, upbringing, and subsequent career trajectory. This character sprang from four overlapping factors: the isolation of the region, the political and religious tolerance that mainly prevailed there, the trade that brought the region into contact with foreigners, and the hardy lifestyle.

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References

  1. The principal English-language sources are Alexander Smith, “An Early Physical Chemist – M.W.Lomonossoff,” The Journal of the American Chemical Society 34 (February 1912), 109–119; Boris N. Menshutkin, Russia’s Lomonosov: Chemist, Courtier, Physicist, Poet (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952); B.B. Kudryavtsev, The Life and Work of Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1954); W. Chapin Huntington, “Michael Lomonosov and Benjamin Franklin: Two Self-Made Men of the Eighteenth Century,” Russian Review 18 (4) (October 1959), 294–306; Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov on the Corpuscular Theory. Translated with an Introduction by Henry M. Leicester (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1970); B.M. Kedrov, “Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilievich,” in Charles Coulston Gillispie, Editor in Chief, Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. VIII (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1973), pp. 467–472; G.E. Pavlova and A.S. Fedorov, Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov:His Life and Work (Moscow: Mir Publishers, 1984); Ilia Z. Serman, Mikhail Lomonosov: Life and Poetry. Translated by Stephany Hoffman (Jerusalem: The Centre of Slavic and Russian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1988); Loren R. Graham, “Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilievich,” in J.L. Heilbron, ed., The Oxford Guide to the History of Physics and Astronomy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 195–196; Sergei Maslikov, “Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilievich,” in Thomas Hockey, Editor-in-Chief, The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Vol. 1 (New York: Springer Science + Business Media, 2007), pp. 705–706; Vladimir Shiltsev, “Mikhail Lomonosov and the dawn of Russian science,” Physics Today 65 (February 2012), 40–46; Steven Usitalo, The Invention of Mikhail Lomonosov: A Russian National Myth [Imperial Encounters in Russian History] Brighton, Mass.: Academic Studies Press, 2013), website http://voicerussia.com/radio_broadcast/58461471/98645162/.

  2. See for instance Steven A. Usitalo, “Russia’s ‘First’ Scientist: The (Self-)Fashioning of Mikhail Lomonosov,” in Steven A. Usitalo and William Benton Whisenhunt, ed., Russian and Soviet History: From the Time of Troubles to the Collapse of the Soviet Union (Lanham, Boulder, New York, Toronto, Plymouth, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008), pp. 51–65.

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  6. Alexandr I. Andreev, “O date rozhdeniya Lomonosova” [“On the date of birth of Lomonosov”], in Lomonosov: Sbornik statei i materialov [Lomonosov: Collection of articles and materials]. Vol. 3 (Moskow and Leningrad: Nauka, 1951), pp. 364–369.

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  9. [François Marie Arouet de] Voltaire, Histoire de l’Empire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand. Tome Premier ([Genève: sine nomine], 1759), p. 16.

  10. Polnoe Sobranie Sochinenii (PSS) [Complete Works]: Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov. 11 Vols. Edited by S. Vavilov and T. Kravets (Moscow and Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1950–1983); available online from Russian National Fundamental Electronic Library, Russian Literature and FolkloreLomonosov; website http://feb-web.ru/feb/lomonos/default.asp, Vol. 6 (1952), p. 359.

  11. Ibid., Vol. 8 (1959), p. 696. For a somewhat different translation, see Serman, Mikhail Lomonosov: Life and Poetry (ref. 1), p. 9.

  12. Letopis’ zhizni i tvorchestva M.V.Lomonosova [Chronicles of the life and works of M.V. Lomonosov], compiled by V.L. Chenakal, G.A. Andreeva, G.E. Pavlova, and N.V. Sokolova, edited by A.V. Topchiev, N.A. Figurovskiy, and V.L.Chenakal (Moscow and Leningrad, USSR Academy of Sciences, 1961), p. 20.

  13. Jacob von Staehlin, “Cherty i Anekdoti dlya biografii Lomonosova, vzyatie s ego sobstvennih slov Stelinim 1783” [“Features and anecdotes for Lomonosov’s biography, recorded from his own words by Shtaehlin 1783”], in Arist Kunik, Sbornik materialov dlya Istorii Imperatorskoi Akademii Nauk v XVIII veke [Collection of materials for the history of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the XVIII century]. Vol. 2 (St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1865), pp. 390–405.

  14. Verevkin, (Akademicheskaya Biografiya) (ref. 7), pp. III-XVIII.

  15. Ibid., p. V.

  16. Peter von Havens M.Ph., Reise in Russland. Aus dem Dänischen ins Deutsche übersetzt von H.A.R. (Copenhagen: Gabriel Christian Rothe, 1744), pp. 108–109.

  17. Polnoe Sobranie Sochinenii (PSS): [Complete Works] (ref. 10). Vol. 10 (1957), pp. 481–482.

  18. Letopis’ zhizni i tvorchestva M.V.Lomonosova [Chronicles of the life and works of M.V. Lomonosov] (ref. 12).

  19. Ibid., p. 21.

  20. Ibid., p. 22.

  21. Petr Pekarskii [Pekarsky], “Istoriya Imperatorskoi Akademii Nauk” [“History of the Imperial Academy of Sciences”], St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences Vol. 2 (1870–1873), pp. 278–279.

  22. Letopis’ zhizni i tvorchestva M.V.Lomonosova [Chronicles of the life and works of M.V. Lomonosov] (ref. 12), p. 23.

  23. Neither the Academy biography of Lomonosov by Staehlin at the end of the 18th century (ref. 13), nor the 19th-century biographies by Pekarsky (ref. 21), Pert S. Bilarsky, Materiali k biografii Lomonosova [Materials for the biography of Lomonosov] (St. Petersburg: Academy of Sciences, 1865) and Alexandr I. Lvovich-Kostritsa, Lomonosov (St. Petersburg: Ehrlich Publishing, 1892), nor the early 20th-century biography by Boris Menshutkin, Mikhailo Vasilievich Lomonosov: zhizneopisnie [Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov: biography] (St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy Sciences, 1912), mention this rumor.

  24. The original 1932 publication in the weekly Soversky Rybak [Soviet Fisherman] was not available to us; the story is reproduced in many publications, including N. Nepomnyaschii, 100 Zagadok Rossiiskoi Istorii [100 Mysteries of Russian History] (Moscow: Veche, 2012).

  25. Usitalo, “Russia’s ‘First’ Scientist” (ref. 2), pp. 58–59.

  26. See, for instance, Julia Thomas, Shakespeare’s Shrine: The Bard’s Birthplace and the Invention of Stratford-upon Avon (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), and Claudia L. Johnson, Jane Austen’s Cults and Cultures (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2012).

  27. Usitalo, “Russia’s ‘First’ Scientist” (ref. 2), p. 53.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Gary Marker for commenting on an early version of our manuscript, Marat Eseev for warm hospitality during our trip to Arkhangelsk in summer 2012, and Roger H. Stuewer for his excellent editorial work.

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Correspondence to Robert P. Crease.

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Robert P. Crease (corresponding author) is Professor of Philosophy at Stony Brook University. Vladimir Shiltsev is Director of the Accelerator Physics Center at Fermilab.

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Crease, R.P., Shiltsev, V. Pomor Polymath: The Upbringing of Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov, 1711–1730. Phys. Perspect. 15, 391–414 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-013-0113-5

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