DOCSLIB.ORG

98 Mikhail Lomonosov: Mastering Foreign Languages in the Course of Early Linguistic Studies

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
98 Mikhail Lomonosov: Mastering Foreign Languages in the Course of Early Linguistic Studies РАЗДЕЛ 3. РАБОТЫ СТУДЕНТОВ И АСПИРАНТОВ, ВЫПОЛНЕННЫЕ ПОД РУКОВОДСТВОМ ИЛИ В СОАВТОРСТВЕ С ПРЕПОДАВАТЕЛЯМИ КАФЕДРЫ Булкина Ю.В., Яковлева И.О. Mikhail Lomonosov: Mastering Foreign Languages in the Course of Early Linguistic Studies∗ All great people were once at the beginning of their creative development. It is discovering one’s abilities and developing them that is the most important thing in these years. Being a prodigy in his young days, Mikhail Lomonosov at the same time demonstrated great persistence for acquiring mastery of a lot of sciences, languages, and arts. A prominent 19th century historian Peter Pekarsky found the documentary evidence supporting the fact that Lomonosov was a brilliant polyglot. Doing his research in the archives of St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences Pekarsky came across Lomonosov’s handwriting providing an extensive list of languages he evidently knew and foreign books he had read or was supposedly going to read. Points on the list are French, English, German, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Jewish, Greek, and Russian; other languages mentioned are Portuguese, Spanish, Irish, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Czech, Bulgarian, Moldavian, Finnish, Lithuanian, Estonian, Romanian, Turkish, Tatar, Serbian, and so on – these are the ones, which he could read and speak either fluently, or tolerably. [Пекарский, 1873. С. 950]. These days studying foreign languages is known to be crucial for multicultural communication on both professional and scientific basis as well as for personal development since it provides the ability to interact with peoples who speak these languages and to enjoy the world’s cultural and scientific heritage. It meant a lot in Lomonosov`s time, it still remains essential nowadays. Lomonosov himself had to realize it clearly therefore he was mastering languages throughout his life. Given times, the journey to Moscow for thorough education was a brave deed displaying all the power, might and depth of his personality and mind. But there was an obstacle in his path to science discipline mastery – Lomonosov didn’t speak Latin, which was an international language of science of that time. At twenty, Lomonosov began to study Latin at the biggest educational centre in Russia – “the Spasskie schools” (the Slavic ∗ текст публикуется в авторской редакции 98 Greek Latin Academy). A proud coast-dweller had to suffer many hardships in the first years of his studying. He lived from hand to mouth. To make things worse there was no dormitory by the Academy. However, tough living conditions didn’t turn him off science. Later he wrote: “Schoolboys, little children, shouted and pointed at a blockhead who came to learn Latin at the age of twenty” [Ломоносов, 1957, Т.10, С.479]. But through thick and thin, Lomonosov’s native wit, talent and diligence made it possible for him to achieve an outstanding fluency in Latin. He began to study with such frantic zeal that after the first half-year had passed, he was transferred from the lowest to the second form, and the same year – from the second to the third form. A year later he was so good at Latin that he could even make small verses. One day Mikhail Lomonosov composed a translation of a Latin moral parable: Стихи на туясок Услышали мухи Медовые духи, Прилетевши, сели, В радости запели, Егда стали ясти, Попали в напасти; Увязли бо ноги: Ах! – плачут убоги, Мёду полизали, А сами пропали. [Ломоносов, 1959, Т.8, С.7] The teacher wrote for it: pulchre (“excellent” in Latin). Lomonosov never confined himself to learning textbooks, he worked diligently with texts in the original, went deeply into grammatical rules, sought for more accurate words and expressions for transferring the meaning from one language to another. So, having coped brilliantly with Latin, he grew to realize the features and interdependence between Latin and bookish Slavonic language in all the variety of stylistic nuances. After mastering the basic course in Latin, Lomonosov began to study “poetical doctrine” of the language under his teacher Fyodor Kvetnitsky’s supervision. These lessons introduced the student to the poetical practice. Versification, composing speeches both in Latin and Slavonic were on the curriculum considered rather as a skill, and a sign of scientific accomplishment than a creative process. So, it was at that time when he wrote his first verses. The course in poetical doctrine was a preparation for mastering rhetoric. Naturally, Lomonosov took part in rhetorical public debates, at which homilies were delivered in Slavonic and Latin languages in the presence of other students. He was so 99 fascinated with the study of eloquence that he rewrote an extensive course of rhetoric, which contained a lot of theoretical and practical information. Later on working on his books “Rhetoric” and “Russian Grammar” he made good use of the skills acquired at “the Spasskie schools”. Learning poetic and rhetoric boosted the development of a would-be scientist’s interest in history and philology. It was his idea of oratory free from scholastic intricacies that Lomonosov based his scientific system on, the latter being described in his “Short Guide to Rhetoric for the Benefit of the Lovers of Eloquence” (“Краткое руководство к красноречию. Книга первая, в которой содержится риторика, показующая общие правила обоего красноречия, то есть оратории и поэзии, сочиненная в пользу любящих словесные науки”). “Rhetorical skill – which was the basis of Latin teaching in Russian schools – was mastered brilliantly by Lomonosov so the surviving example of his Latin speech is considered to be nearly as good as the best works of New Latin eloquence” [Боровский Я.М. 1960, Т.4, С.208]. Thus having mastered the Latin language, Lomonosov familiarized himself thoroughly with the best examples of Latin poetry and oratory including the works of Virgil, Ovid, Juvenal, Horatius, Plautus, and Terentius. At the same time he started learning Greek – which wasn’t taught at the Academy – on his own: using Latin dictionaries in his studies Lomonosov frequently came across Greek words and eventually took to Greek. His great interest in Hellenic wisdom closely connected with ancient Russian culture inspired him to learn the language with eagerness. Latin and Greek writers revealed the beauty of poetry to him, taught him to understand the nature, to communicate his ideas, and showed him the perfection of artistic word. At the end of 1735 the Senate ruled to send twenty students who were “skilled in sciences” (including Lomonosov) to St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The living and studying conditions were no less difficult than those in Moscow and included modest accommodation and scant meal. For all that, curious and talented coast-dweller showed great interest in sciences from the first days of studying at the Academy, rushing to verify and extend fragmentary knowledge acquired in Moscow. Young Mikhail pounced on reading books and as students were not admitted to the academic library he might as well have taken the chance to enjoy free reading in the nearest book- shop. Not speaking German which was widely used at the Academy felt like an essential gap in his knowledge. That was the reason why his study started with everyday lessons in German. In March 1736 the Academy of Sciences decided to send twelve most gifted students including Lomonosov to study mining to Germany. Under the instruction they were to combine their study of metallurgy and chemistry with learning foreign languages “to speak and write in Russian, German, Latin and French fluently” [Ченакал В.Л., Андреева Г. А. , 100 Павлова Г. Е. , Соколова Н. В., 1961, С. 247]. Having arrived at the University of Marburg, Lomonosov and his peers turned to Christian Wolff, an eminent philosopher, mathematician, and outstanding teacher, with a letter of introduction from the president of St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences Johann Korff. The fact that Wolff gave his lectures in German (not in Latin) might have led Lomonosov to the idea that sciences in Russia should have been taught in the native language as well. Lomonosov began his studying in Marburg with the fundamentals of arithmetic, geometry and the German language. Soon after that he also started to take lessons in French. A year had hardly passed when Russian students made significant progress in a lot of sciences. A letter from Wolff to Korff (sent to St. Petersburg and dated September 4th 1737) is good evidence of the students’ accomplishments with Lomonosov’s fluency in German mentioned as one of the points. On the same day Lomonosov himself sent a letter in German to Korff thus confirming Wolff’s account. Starting with October 1738 young Mikhail began to study Italian on his own initiative. It was also in Germany where Lomonosov became proficient in English. Later on he even translated some of Anacreon`s verses from English into Russian. Unfortunately, there are no Lomonosov’s works in English or translations into English which have survived to the present day. Throughout his course Lomonosov efficiently combined the study of natural sciences with literary pursuits. In Marburg he got acquainted with then modern German literature, and read some works by German poetry theorist Johann Christoph Gottsched. He conducted a careful study of Gottshced`s book «A Detailed guide to oratory» based on the works of Greek and Latin authors and French theorists of eloquence of the 17th century. In addition, Lomonosov engaged with enthusiasm in translating verses, and continued his eloquence lessons. By the end of the second year of his stay in Marburg he had mastered the French language. To demonstrate the evidence of his success Lomonosov sent the translation of a popular ode by Fenelon to the Academy. This work exhibited a quality which later became very characteristic of him as a translator – accuracy of transferring the information, and preserving all the images and ideas of the original text.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Introduction to Astronomy from Darkness to Blazing Glory
    Introduction to Astronomy From Darkness to Blazing Glory Published by JAS Educational Publications Copyright Pending 2010 JAS Educational Publications All rights reserved. Including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Second Edition Author: Jeffrey Wright Scott Photographs and Diagrams: Credit NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USGS, NOAA, Aames Research Center JAS Educational Publications 2601 Oakdale Road, H2 P.O. Box 197 Modesto California 95355 1-888-586-6252 Website: http://.Introastro.com Printing by Minuteman Press, Berkley, California ISBN 978-0-9827200-0-4 1 Introduction to Astronomy From Darkness to Blazing Glory The moon Titan is in the forefront with the moon Tethys behind it. These are two of many of Saturn’s moons Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, ISS, JPL, ESA, NASA 2 Introduction to Astronomy Contents in Brief Chapter 1: Astronomy Basics: Pages 1 – 6 Workbook Pages 1 - 2 Chapter 2: Time: Pages 7 - 10 Workbook Pages 3 - 4 Chapter 3: Solar System Overview: Pages 11 - 14 Workbook Pages 5 - 8 Chapter 4: Our Sun: Pages 15 - 20 Workbook Pages 9 - 16 Chapter 5: The Terrestrial Planets: Page 21 - 39 Workbook Pages 17 - 36 Mercury: Pages 22 - 23 Venus: Pages 24 - 25 Earth: Pages 25 - 34 Mars: Pages 34 - 39 Chapter 6: Outer, Dwarf and Exoplanets Pages: 41-54 Workbook Pages 37 - 48 Jupiter: Pages 41 - 42 Saturn: Pages 42 - 44 Uranus: Pages 44 - 45 Neptune: Pages 45 - 46 Dwarf Planets, Plutoids and Exoplanets: Pages 47 -54 3 Chapter 7: The Moons: Pages: 55 - 66 Workbook Pages 49 - 56 Chapter 8: Rocks and Ice:
    [Show full text]
  • Lomonosov's Telescope
    Mikhail Lomonosov: Father of Russian Science Robert P. Crease Stony Brook University Vladimir Shiltsev Fermilab Portraits of Lomonosov (1711-1765): In his 30s (left) and 50s (right) Maps of Pomorie, (ca 19 cent.) and of Kholmogory region (1771) Caravan and Sleigh Lomonosov Tercentennial 8 Lomonosov Tercentennial 9 Lomonosov Tercentennial 10 Lomonosov Tercentennial 11 Lomonosov Tercentennial 12 Marburg Diploma Lomonosov Tercentennial 13 Lomonosov Tercentennial 14 School & Scientific Tradition Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz Mikhail Lomonosov 1646 – 1716 Christian Wolff 1711 - 1765 1679 - 1754 In Germany 1737-1741 Lomonosov Tercentennial 15 Lomonosov Tercentennial 16 Lomonosov Tercentennial 17 Mosaics “Battle of Poltava” (1764) Lomonosov Tercentennial 6.4 x 4.8 m18 Lomonosov Tercentennial 19 Lomonosov Tercentennial 20 Lomonosov Tercentennial 21 Vladimir Shiltsev PPPL 2014 Reveal the Genius: An Amazing Story of Experimental Reconstruction of Lomonosov’s Discovery of Venus’s Atmosphere Vladimir Shiltsev (Illinois) Alex Koukarine (California) Yuri Petrunin (Colorado) Igor Nesterenko (Siberia) Randall Rosenfeld (Canada) Sun, Venus and Earth Venus Earth Vladimir Shiltsev PPPL 2014 Transits of Venus over Sun’s Disc lasts about 6 hours 1761: June 6 1769: June 3-4 1874: Dec 8-9 1882: December 6 2004: June 8 2012: June 5-6 2117: Dec 11 2125: December 8 Vladimir Shiltsev PPPL 2014 Why So Rarely? Tilted Orbits Venus orbit tilted 3.40 w.r.t. ecliptic Vladimir Shiltsev PPPL 2014 Discovery of Venus’s Atmosphere In 1761, Mikhail Lomonosov observing the transit of Venus noted appearance of luminous arc over the part of the planet off the Sun’s disc at egress: «…From these observations, Mr. Councilor Lomonosov concludes that the planet Venus is surrounded by a significant air atmosphere similar to (if not even greater than) that which surrounds our terrestrial globe…» Source: “The Appearance of Venus On The Sun, Observed At The St.Petersburg Imperial Academy Of Sciences On May 26, 1761.” , StP.Acad.Sci.
    [Show full text]
  • Refractions of Rome in the Russian Political Imagination by Olga Greco
    From Triumphal Gates to Triumphant Rotting: Refractions of Rome in the Russian Political Imagination by Olga Greco A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Comparative Literature) in the University of Michigan 2015 Doctoral Committee: Professor Valerie A. Kivelson, Chair Assistant Professor Paolo Asso Associate Professor Basil J. Dufallo Assistant Professor Benjamin B. Paloff With much gratitude to Valerie Kivelson, for her unflagging support, to Yana, for her coffee and tangerines, and to the Prawns, for keeping me sane. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ............................................................................................................................... ii Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter I. Writing Empire: Lomonosov’s Rivalry with Imperial Rome ................................... 31 II. Qualifying Empire: Morals and Ethics of Derzhavin’s Romans ............................... 76 III. Freedom, Tyrannicide, and Roman Heroes in the Works of Pushkin and Ryleev .. 122 IV. Ivan Goncharov’s Oblomov and the Rejection of the Political [Rome] .................. 175 V. Blok, Catiline, and the Decomposition of Empire .................................................. 222 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 271 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • BETWEEN PHILOSOPHIES: the EMERGENCE of a NEW INTELLECTUAL PARADIGM in RUSSIA by Alyssa J. Deblasio Bachelor of Arts, Villanova
    BETWEEN PHILOSOPHIES: THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW INTELLECTUAL PARADIGM IN RUSSIA by Alyssa J. DeBlasio Bachelor of Arts, Villanova University, 2003 Master of Arts, University of Pittsburgh, 2006 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2010 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH School of Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by Alyssa J. DeBlasio It was defended on May 14, 2010 and approved by Tatiana Artemyeva, Professor, Herzen State Pedagogical University (St. Petersburg, Russia), Department of Theory and History of Culture Vladimir Padunov, Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures James P. Scanlan, Emeritus Professor, The Ohio State University, Department of Philosophy Dissertation Advisor: Nancy Condee, Associate Professor, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures ii Copyright © by Alyssa J. DeBlasio 2010 iii BETWEEN PHILOSOPHIES: THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW INTELLECTUAL PARADIGM IN RUSSIA Alyssa J. DeBlasio, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2010 This dissertation takes as its primary task the evaluation of a conflict of paradigms in Russian philosophical thought in the past decade. If until the early nineties Russian philosophers were often guilty of uncritically attributing to their domestic philosophy a set of characteristics that fell along the lines of a religious/secular binary (e.g. literary vs. analytic; continuous vs. ruptured), in recent years the same scholarship is moving away from the nineteenth-century model of philosophy as a “path” or “special mission,” as it has been called by Konstantin Aksakov, Aleksei Khomiakov, Ivan Kireevskii, and later, Nikolai Berdiaev, among others.
    [Show full text]
  • The Theological Context of Lomonosov's “Evening” and “Morning Meditations
    Chapter 15. Th e Th eological Context of Lomonosov’s “Evening”... 15 THE THEOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF LOMONOSOV’S “EVENING” AND “MORNING MEDITATIONS ON GOD’S MAJESTY” While Lomonosov’s “Evening Meditation on God’s Majesty on the Occa- sion of the Great Northern Lights” (Vechernee razmyshlenie o Bozhiem Veli chestve pri sluchae velikogo severnogo siianiia) and “Morning Medi- tation on God’s Majesty” (Utrennee razmyshleniia o Bozhiem velichestve) have long been rightfully recognized as masterpieces of Russian poetry, the question of their religious content has not only not been studied but not even considered as a valid concern. On the one hand, the theological aspect of Lomonosov’s poetry has mostly been ignored, or even denied. As V. Dorovatovskaia wrote in 1911, “Lomonosov’s thoughts were not directed at religion and purely religious questions held no interest for him.”1 On the other hand, it was suggested that even if the issue were to be raised (I again cite Dorovatovskaia) Lomonosov “remained an isolated case in the ideological regard.”2 These poems’ relation to Russian poetic and religious traditions remains little studied3 and their correlation with 1 V. Dorovatovskaia, “O zaimstvovaniiakh Lomonosova iz Biblii,” in M. V. Lomonosov, 1711–1911: Sbornik statei, ed. V. V. Sipovskii (St. Petersburg, 1911), 38. 2 Dorovatovskaia, “O zaimstvovaniiakh,” 65. This neglect of Lomonosov’s religious views was shared, understandably, by the great majority of Soviet critics. 3 L. V. Pumpianskii referred in passing to the poems’ serious theological content, which he defined as “a rationalist, Lutheran and Leibnizian-colored theism” and as “a phenomenon of the European bourgeois type” (“Ocherki po literature pervoi poloviny XVIII veka,” XVIII vek, 1 [M.
    [Show full text]
  • A New Perspective in Russian Intellectual History: Russian Political Thought in Early Modern Times
    Вивлioѳика: E-Journal of Eighteenth-Century Russian Studies, Vol. 7 (2019): 119-123 119 __________________________________________________________________________________ A New Perspective in Russian Intellectual History: Russian Political Thought in Early Modern Times Derek Offord The University of Bristol [email protected] ___________________________________________________________________________ G. M. Hamburg, Russia’s Path Toward Enlightenment: Faith, Politics, and Reason, 1500– 1801. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2016, 912 p. ISBN: 9780300113136 ___________________________________________________________________________ Gary Hamburg’s erudite and thoughtful survey of early modern Russian thought began its life as part of a more general study of Russian thought up until the revolutions of 1917. As originally conceived, this study would have built upon the author’s already substantial corpus of work on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Russian history and thought, most notably his monograph of 1992 on Boris Chicherin and his volume of 2010, co-edited with Randall A. Poole, on freedom and dignity in Russian philosophy from 1830 to 1930. As work progressed, however, it became clear that thinkers active from the early sixteenth century to the end of the eighteenth demanded more attention than Hamburg had anticipated; in fact, they came to merit a book all to themselves. The resulting 900-page product of his reflection on the prehistory of modern Russian thought enables him to straddle what are generally perceived as two great divides: First, the supposed divide between Muscovite and Imperial Russia and, second, that between the traditional religious and the secular enlightened forms of Russian culture. The enormous volume of material that Hamburg presents in this monograph is organized in three parts within a broadly chronological framework.
    [Show full text]
  • Mikhail Lomonosov and the Discovery of the Atmosphere of Venus During the 1761 Transit Mikhail Ya
    Part 3 TRANSITS THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND EXTRA-SOLAR PLANETS Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.229, on 28 Sep 2021 at 07:35:07, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921305001390 208 Vladimir Elkin, Mikhail Marov and Lena Pitjeva Ignas Snellen talking to Chris Allen and Clive Davenhall; Gert Zech Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.229, on 28 Sep 2021 at 07:35:07, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921305001390 Transits of Venus: New Views of the Solar System and Galaxy Proceedings IAU Colloquium No. 196, 2004 c 2004 International Astronomical Union D.W. Kurtz, ed. doi:10.1017/S1743921305001390 Mikhail Lomonosov and the discovery of the atmosphere of Venus during the 1761 transit Mikhail Ya. Marov Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Miusskaya sq. 4, Moscow 125047, Russia email: [email protected] Abstract. The atmosphere of Venus was discovered for the first time by the Russian scientist Mikhail V. Lomonosov at the St Petersburg Observatory in 1761. Lomonosov detected the refraction of solar rays while observing the transit of the planet across the disk of the Sun. From these observations he correctly inferred that only the presence of refraction in a sufficiently thick atmosphere could explain the appearance of a light (‘fire’) ring around the night disk of Venus during the initial phase of transit, on the side opposite from the direction of motion.
    [Show full text]
  • Article Images of Suspicion: Surveillance Photos in the Brazilian Political Police Archives
    Images of Suspicion: Article Surveillance Photos in the Brazilian Political Police Archives Mauricio Lissovsky Teresa Bastos School of Communication, Federal University of Rio de FAPERJ postdoctoral fellowship at the School of Janeiro (ECO/UFRJ), Brazil. Communication, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro [email protected] (ECO/UFRJ), Brazil. [email protected] _____________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract Between its foundation under President Vargas in the 1930s until its closure with the end of the Military Dictatorship in 1983, the Brazilian Political Police Archive accumulated more than one hundred thousand photographs, These pictures, now held in the collections of the State Archive of Rio de Janeiro are almost entirely unknown. Despite the big differences between the various governments and regimes during its fifty years of existence, the common objects of surveillance by the police remained remarkably constant: trade unions, political parties, cultural associations, women’s movements, student movements, anarchists, communists and terrorists. Foreigners, including diplomats, whose activities raised suspicion of espionage or subversion were also kept a watchful eye on. The contemporary surveillance camera has its signature in the wide-angle plongée machinic abstract style, but in the files of the political police, the watchers are always finding ways to leave traces of their own performances as spies. Agamben’s ideas help us to create, in this exploratory article, a dialogic link between the booking photographs taken of the political prisoners and the spy photographs of the usual suspects. In this sense, these images of suspicion testify not only to the “facts” or “feats” of those men and women under observation. In the trail left by these old photographs we can still hear the steps that once choreographed the ballet of surveillance, a strange pas-de-deux that found, in the interstice of the photographic act, a place for authorship.
    [Show full text]
  • Adam Drozdek Pittsburgh Physico-Theology of Mikhail
    SLAVIA ORIENTALISCZAS W ŚMIERCI TOM LILJICZAXI, NR 2, LWA ROK TOŁSTOJA 2012 141 Adam Drozdek Pittsburgh Physico-theology of Mikhail Lomonosov Lomonosov was a polymath who left his imprint in many different areas. He made contributions to science, including chemistry, physics, and geology where he worked on the problem of heat, light, col ors, electricity, and geological processes. He constantly stressed the need of the interaction between theory and experiment in science and designed numerous scientific instruments to make experiments pos- sible. Also, he authored a textbook on Russian grammar, on rhetoric, and wrote a history of early Russia. However, his fame initially came from his literary work, primarily panegyrics and philosophico-religious odes; only later were his scientific achievements fully appreciated. God Lomonosov did not write any theological or philosophical treatises; however, he was not silent about his theological convictions which are very strongly voiced in his poetry, in his lectures, and also in some of his scientific publications. When conveying his religious convictions, Lomonosov spoke as a scientist who devoted his life to theo- retical and experimental research of nature. He did not speak as a theologian, but as a researcher for whom his scientific investigations also have theological significance. “Investigation of nature is … a difficult, useful, and sacred task.” It is sacred since “the deeper [our] reason penetrates to the very causes of such marvelous works, the clearer is revealed the ineffable Creator of all. This visible world is the first, general, true, and vocal proclaimer of His omnipotence, majesty, and supreme wisdom. Heavens proclaim God’s glory,” he said in his Lecture on the origin of light (S 2.109)1.
    [Show full text]
  • One of Some Dozen Russian Movies on Lomonosov
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =hvYoGl7KPY8 … one of some dozen Russian movies on Lomonosov Lomonosov Tercentennial 1 Reflections on the Nature of Genius on Occasion of 300th Anniversary of Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765) Lomonosov Tercentennial 2 Tercentennial Anniversary of LOMONOSOV Nov 19, 2011 Lomonosov Tercentennial 3 Lomonosov - 300 • Who is Lomonosov • Timeline of His Life • His Contributions to Science • Complexity of Science • What Does Make a Genius? Lomonosov Tercentennial 4 Mikhail Vasil’evich LOMONOSOV Nov 19, 1711 – Apr 15, 1765 • Physicist and Chemist • Poet and Artist • Engineer and Entrepreneur • Courtier and Administrator • Philologist and Astronomer • Geologist and Mineralogist Lomonosov Tercentennial 5 Power (a.u.) “ 1700 Passionary 1750 1800 Power” of Russian Ethnos Tercentennial Lomonosov 1850 1900 1950 2000 6 Pushkin on Lomonosov 1755 Moscow University «…между Петром I и Екатериною II он один является самобытным cподвижником просвещения. Он создал первый университет; он, лучше сказать, сам был первым нашим университетом” А.С.Пушкин 1835 “…between Peter I and Catherine II, he (Lomonosov) was the original champion of the Enlightenment. He founded the first University: better to say, he himself was our first University…” Lomonosov Tercentennial 7 Named After Lomonosov • Moscow State University – Russian “Number One” • Town (near St. Petersburg), home village in the North • Range in Arctic ocean, ocean stream, peninsula, Moon crater, mineral, crayfish species • Three other Universities • One Theater • Russian State Porcelain
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter Thirtyone. the Scientific Revolution.Pdf
    Chapter Thirty-one The Scientific Revolution Between the publication of Copernicus‟ theory in 1543 and the death of Gottfried Leibniz in 1716, several hundred Europeans made and advertised a wide array of scientific and mathematical discoveries. The discoveries changed the outlook of a few people immediately, and eventually of much of the world‟s population. The term, “Scientific Revolution,” is often applied to the advances made in western Christendom during the later sixteenth and the seventeenth century.1 The discoveries themselves prepared the way for the Enlightenment and for the transition from Christendom to modern civilization. Even more important than the advances already made, however, were a growing interest in experimental science and an expectation of further discoveries in the future. By the beginning of the eighteenth century the Bible and the ancient Greek and Roman writers were beginning to lose some of their authority, sharing the stage now with Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, Newton and other “moderns.” The contributors to the Scientific Revolution were in their day not yet known as “scientists” (a term not coined until the nineteenth century). They might be labeled according to their specialties, as astronomers, chemists, or physicians. More generally, they were “natural philosophers” or “men of science,” “science” being understood broadly as knowledge of all sorts, especially non-religious knowledge. Some of the men of science were eccentric and difficult, most of them were contentious with their rivals, and a few of them suffered from one or more serious physical disabilities. Men of science were greatly honored, however, by universities and often were handsomely supported by princes and kings.
    [Show full text]
  • Mikhail Vasil'evich Lomonosov Meditations on Solidity and Fluidity
    Mikhail Vasil’evich Lomonosov Meditations on Solidity and Fluidity of Bodies 1 for the solemn celebration of the namesake of Her Majesty, all the most beautiful and most powerful, the Grand Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, the autocrat of the All-Russia, read in the public meeting of the Imperial Academy of Sciences on September, 6th day of 1760, by the collegiate adviser and Professor and member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Mikhail Lomonosov [ Meditationes De Solido Et Fluido ] [ Рассуждение о Твердости и Жидкости Тел ] §1 Everyone knows how much the solidity and liquidity of bodies depend on differences of heat and cold. Now when the partner in our studies, Professor Braun2, has presented a report on his experiments on freezing of mercury in the past severe winter and has explained them, I consider it proper to present my own thoughts on the cause for cohesion in various bodies, so that one may obtain a clear and general idea of the freezing and thawing of sensible bodies3 when they become solid or liquid, and by this public presentation of our works to express general and most humble reverence to this solemn festival. §2 In studying the general reason for the cohesion of particles, I should first of all warn those who have not been interested in the subject and have been satisfied with speculative idea of just an attractive force, naively considering such as free of any striking contact. Therefore, I assert that I cannot acknowledge and accept such views because of my firm proffs, which, unless I am deceived, are new.
    [Show full text]