Editing Mikhail Lomonosov (section)

== Science and inventions ==

===Physics===
[[File:Ekaterina II and Lomonosov.jpg|thumb|[[Catherine the Great|Catherine II of Russia]] visits Mikhail Lomonosov in 1764. 1884 painting by Ivan Feodorov.]]
In 1756, Lomonosov tried to replicate [[Robert Boyle]]'s experiment of 1673.{{sfn|Menshutkin|1952|p=120}} He concluded that the commonly accepted [[phlogiston theory]] was false. Anticipating the discoveries of [[Antoine Lavoisier]], he wrote in his diary: "Today I made an experiment in hermetic glass vessels in order to determine whether the mass of metals increases from the action of pure heat. The experiments – of which I append the record in 13 pages – demonstrated that the famous Robert Boyle was deluded, for without access of air from outside the mass of the burnt metal remains the same."

That is the [[Conservation of mass|Law of Mass Conservation]] in [[chemical reaction]], which is well-known today as "in a chemical reaction, the mass of reactants is equal to the mass of the products." Lomonosov, together with Lavoisier, is regarded as the one who discovered the law of mass conservation.<ref>{{Cite journal | volume = 10 | issue = 3 | pages = 119–127 | last = Pomper | first = Philip | title = Lomonosov and the Discovery of the Law of the Conservation of Matter in Chemical Transformations | journal = Ambix | date = October 1962| doi = 10.1179/amb.1962.10.3.119 }}</ref>

He stated that all matter is composed of corpuscles – molecules that are "collections" of elements – atoms. In his dissertation "Elements of Mathematical Chemistry" (1741, unfinished), the scientist gives the following definition: "An element is a part of a body that does not consist of any other smaller and different bodies ... corpuscle is a collection of elements forming one small mass."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/mikhailvasilevic017733mbp |first=Mikhail Vasil'evich |last=Lomonosov |title=Mikhail Vasil'evich Lomonosov on the Corpuscular Theory |translator-first=Henry M. |translator-last=Leicester |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1959 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mikhailvasilevic017733mbp/page/n71 56]–57}}</ref> In a later study (1748), he uses the term "atom" instead of "element", and "particula" (particle) or "molecule" instead of "corpuscle."

He regarded heat as a form of motion, suggested the [[wave theory]] of light, contributed to the formulation of the [[kinetic theory of gases]], and stated the idea of [[Conservation of mass|conservation of matter]] in the following words: "All changes in nature are such that inasmuch is taken from one object insomuch is added to another. So, if the amount of matter decreases in one place, it increases elsewhere. This universal law of nature embraces laws of motion as well, for an object moving others by its own force in fact imparts to another object the force it loses" (first articulated in a letter to [[Leonhard Euler]] dated 5 July 1748, rephrased and published in Lomonosov's dissertation "Reflexion on the solidity and fluidity of bodies," 1760).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pismen |first1=Len |title=The Swings of Science: From Complexity to Simplicity and Back |date=2018 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-99777-3 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rvx9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA41}}</ref>

===Astronomy===
[[File:LomonossowEffekt.svg|thumb|Scheme of the Lomonosov-Effect during a [[transit of Venus]]]]
Lomonosov was the first to discover and appreciate the atmosphere of Venus during his observation of the [[transit of Venus]] of 1761 in a small observatory near his house in St Petersburg.{{sfn|Menshutkin|1952|p=}}<ref name="Shiltsev2014">{{cite journal |title=The 1761 Discovery of Venus' Atmosphere: Lomonosov and Others |journal=[[Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage]] |first=Vladimir |last=Shiltsev |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=85–112 |date=March 2014 |doi=10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2014.01.06 |bibcode=2014JAHH...17...85S|s2cid=53394126 }}</ref> At least in the English-speaking world, this attribution seems to have been owing to comments from the multi-lingual popular astronomy writer [[Willy Ley]] (1966), who consulted sources in both Russian and German, and wrote that Lomonosov observed a luminous ring (this was Ley's interpretation and was not indicated in quotes) and inferred from it the existence of an atmosphere "maybe greater than that of the Earth" (which was in quotes). Because many modern transit observers have also seen a threadlike arc produced by refraction of sunlight in the atmosphere of Venus when the planet has progressed off the limb of the Sun, it has generally, if rather uncritically, been assumed that this was the same thing that Lomonosov saw.  Indeed, the term "Lomonosov’s arc" has frequently been used in the literature.<ref name="ML">{{cite journal |journal=Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union |title=Mikhail Lomonosov and the discovery of the atmosphere of Venus during the 1761 transit |first=Mikhail Ya. |last=Marov |date=2004 |pages=209–219 |bibcode=2005tvnv.conf..209M |doi=10.1017/S1743921305001390 |volume=2004 |doi-access=free }}</ref> 

In 2012, Pasachoff and Sheehan<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Jay |last1=Sheehan |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=3 |journal=Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage |title=Lomonosov, the Discovery of Venus's Atmosphere, and Eighteenth-century Transits of Venus |bibcode=2012JAHH...15....3P |last2=Sheehan |first2=William |date=2012 |doi=10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2012.01.01 |s2cid=55848433 }}</ref> consulted original sources, and questioned the basis for the claim that Lomonosov observed the thin arc produced by the atmosphere of Venus. A reference to the paper was even picked up by the Russian state-controlled media group [[RIA Novosti]] on 31 January 2013, under the headline "Astronomical Battle in US Over Lomonosov’s discovery." An attempt was made by a group of researchers to experimentally reconstruct Lomonosov's observation using antique telescopes during the transit of Venus on 5–6 June 2012.  One of them, Y. Petrunin, suggested that the telescope Lomonosov actually used was probably a 50&nbsp;mm Dollond with a magnifying power of 40x.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Experimental Reconstruction of Lomonosov's Discovery of Venus's Atmosphere with Antique Refractors During the 2012 Transit of Venus|date=2012-08-27|arxiv=1208.5286 |author1=Alexandre Koukarine |author2=Igor Nesterenko |author3=Yuri Petrunin |author4=Vladimir Shiltsev |doi=10.1134/S0038094613060038 |volume=47 |issue=6|journal=Solar System Research |pages=487–490|bibcode = 2013SoSyR..47..487K |s2cid=119201160}}</ref> 

It was preserved at Pulkova Observatory but destroyed when the Germans bombed the observatory during World War II. Thus, Lomonosov's actual telescope was not available, but other presumably similar instruments were employed on this occasion, and led the researchers to affirm their belief that Lomonosov's telescope would have been adequate to the task of detecting the arc.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Experimental Reconstruction of Lomonosov's Discovery of Venus's Atmosphere with Antique Refractors During the 2012 Transit of Venus|date=2012-08-27|arxiv=1208.5286 |author1=Alexandre Koukarine |author2=Igor Nesterenko |author3=Yuri Petrunin |author4=Vladimir Shiltsev |doi=10.1134/S0038094613060038 |volume=47 |issue=6|journal=Solar System Research |pages=487–490|bibcode = 2013SoSyR..47..487K |s2cid=119201160}}</ref> Thus A. Koukarine, using a 67&nbsp;mm Dollond on Mt. Hamilton, where seeing was likely much better than Lomonosov enjoyed at St. Petersburg, clearly observed the spiderweb-thin arc known to be due to refraction in the atmosphere of Venus. However, Koukarine's sketches do not really resemble the diagram published by Lomonosov.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Shiltsev | first1 = V. | last2 = Nesterenko | first2 = I. | last3 = Rosenfeld | first3 = R. | year = 2013 | title = Replicating the discovery of Venus's atmosphere | url = http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v66/i2/p64_s1 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130704225233/http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v66/i2/p64_s1 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2013-07-04 | journal = Physics Today | volume = 66 | issue = 2 | page = 64 | doi = 10.1063/pt.3.1894 | bibcode = 2013PhT....66b..64S }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Koukarine | first1 = A. |display-authors=etal | year = 2013 | title = Experimental Reconstruction of Lomonosov's Discovery of Venus's Atmosphere with Antique Refractors During the 2012 Transit of Venus | journal = Solar System Research | volume = 47 | issue = 6| pages = 487–490 | doi=10.1134/S0038094613060038|arxiv = 1208.5286 |bibcode = 2013SoSyR..47..487K | s2cid = 119201160 }}</ref> 

Koukarine's colleague V. Shiltsev, who more nearly observed under the same conditions as Lomonosov, using a 40&nbsp;mm Dollond at Batavia, Illinois, produced a close duplicate of Lomonosov's diagram. However, the rather large wing of light shown next to the black disk of Venus in his drawing (and Lomonosov's) is too coarse to have been the arc.  Instead it appears to be a complicated manifestation of the celebrated optical effect known as the "[[black drop effect|black drop]]".  It should be kept in mind that, as stated in Sheehan and Westfall, "optical distortions at the interface between Venus and the Sun during transits are impressively large, and any inferences from them are fraught with peril".

Again, the actual words used by Lomonosov do not refer to an "arc" at all.  In the Russian version, he described a brief brightening lasting a second or so, just before [[Transit (astronomy)#Contacts|third contact]], which appeared to Pasachoff and Sheehan to most probably indicate a last fleeting glimpse of the photosphere.  As a check against this, Lomonosov's German version (he had learned to speak and write German fluently as a student at Marburg) was also consulted; he describes seeing "ein ganz helles Licht, wie ein Haar breit"=”a very bright light, as wide as a hair".  Here, the adverb "ganz" in connection with "helles" (bright) could mean "as bright as possible" or "completely bright"), i.e., as bright as the surface brightness of the solar disk, which is even stronger evidence that this can't be Venus's atmosphere, which always appears much fainter.  

Lomonosov's original sketches, if they existed, do not appear to have survived, Modern observations made during the nineteenth century transits and especially those of 2004 and 2012 suggest that what Lomonosov saw was not the arc associated with the atmosphere of Venus at all but the bright flash of the solar photosphere before third contact.  The first observers to record the actual arc associated with the atmosphere of Venus, in a form comporting with modern observations, appear to have been Chappe, Rittenhouse, Wayles and Dymond, and several others at the transit in June 1769.

[[File:Lomonosov 1761German Fig.jpg|thumb|Diagrams from Mikhail Lomonosov's "The Appearance of Venus on the Sun, Observed at the [[St. Petersburg]] Imperial Academy of Sciences on 26 May 1761"]]
In 1762, Lomonosov presented an improved design of a [[reflecting telescope]] to the [[Russian Academy of Sciences]] forum. His telescope had its [[primary mirror]] adjusted at an angle of four degrees to the telescope's axis. This made the image focus at the side of the telescope tube, where the observer could view the image with an [[eyepiece]] without blocking the image. This invention was not published until 1827, so this type of telescope has become associated with a similar design by [[William Herschel]], the [[Herschelian telescope]].<ref>"On an optic pipe improvement" – Lomonosov M.V. Selected works in two volumes. Volume I: Natural sciences and philosophy. Moscow: Nauka (Science) publishing house, 1986 {{in lang|ru}}. ''Name in Russian'': «Об усовершенствовании зрительных труб» – М.В. Ломоносов. Избранные произведения. В двух томах. Т. 1. Естественные науки и философия. М.: Наука. 1986</ref>

===Chemistry and geology===
In 1759, with his collaborator, academician Joseph Adam Braun, Lomonosov was the first person to record the [[freezing]] of [[mercury (element)|mercury]] and to carry out initial experiments with it.<ref>{{Cite arXiv |last1=Lomonosov |first1=Mikhail |last2=Shiltsev |first2=Vladimir |date=2018-01-03 |title=Mikhail Lomonosov. Meditations on Solidity and Fluidity of Bodies(1760). English translation and commentary by V.Shiltsev |class=physics.hist-ph |eprint=1801.00909 |language=en}}</ref> Believing that nature is subject to regular and continuous [[evolution]], he demonstrated the [[life|organic]] origin of [[soil]], [[peat]], coal, [[petroleum]] and [[amber]]. In 1745, he published a catalogue of over 3,000 minerals, and in 1760, he explained the formation of [[iceberg]]s.{{sfn|Menshutkin|1952|p=}}

In 1763, he published ''On The Strata of the Earth'' – his most significant geological work.<ref>''Lomonosov M.V.'' On the strata of the Earth: a translation of "O sloiakh zemnykh" / translated by S.M. Rowland, S. Korolev. Boulder: Geological Soc. of America, 2012. 41 p. (Special paper; 485)</ref> This work puts him before [[James Hutton]], who has been traditionally regarded as the founder of modern geology. Lomonosov based his conceptions on the unity of the Earth's processes in time, and necessity to explain the planet's past from present.<ref name="Vernadsky"/><ref name="Rowland"/>

===Geography===
Lomonosov's observation of iceberg formation led into his pioneering work in [[geography]]. Lomonosov got close to the theory of [[continental drift]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=zoohall.com.ua |url=http://www.zoohall.com.ua/leftframes/ecolog/greenplanet/jizn1.htm |access-date=2024-09-29 |website=www.zoohall.com.ua}}</ref> theoretically predicted the existence of [[Antarctica]] (he argued that [[iceberg]]s of the [[Southern Ocean]] could be formed only on a dry land covered with ice),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-08 |title=About - Eduard Belcher |url=https://www.eduard-belcher.org/belcher-stati5.html |access-date=2024-09-29 |archive-date=8 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808070306/https://www.eduard-belcher.org/belcher-stati5.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> and invented sea tools which made writing and calculating directions and distances easier. In 1764, he organized an expedition (led by Admiral [[Vasili Chichagov]]) to find the [[Northern Sea Route|Northeast Passage]] between the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] and Pacific oceans by sailing along the northern coast of [[Siberia]].{{sfn|Menshutkin|1952|p=}}

=== Engineering ===
[[File:Lomonosov-aerodromic-machine-(reconstruction).jpg|thumb|A first ever spring-driven [[Coaxial rotors|coaxial rotor]]]]
The idea of a [[coaxial rotor]] originated from Mikhail Lomonosov. In July 1754, he developed a model of a small helicopter with a coaxial rotor and demonstrated it to the Russian Academy of Sciences.

===Mosaic===
Lomonosov was proud to restore the ancient art of [[mosaic]]s. In 1754, in his letter to [[Leonhard Euler]], he wrote that his three years of experiments on the effects of chemistry of minerals on their colour led to his deep involvement in the mosaic art. In 1763, he set up a glass factory that produced the first stained glass mosaics outside of Italy. There were forty mosaics attributed to Lomonosov, with only twenty-four surviving to the present day. Among the best is the portrait of [[Peter I of Russia|Peter the Great]] and the ''Battle of Poltava'', measuring {{convert|4.8|×|6.4|m}}.<ref>{{cite web|author=Elena Lavrenova |url=http://www.foxdesign.ru/aphorism/biography/lomonosov.html |title=Lomonosov biography |publisher=Foxdesign.ru |access-date=2 May 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.narfu.ru/lomonosov |title=М.В. Ломоносов: к 300-летию со дня рождения|publisher=narfu.ru |access-date=2 May 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://grokhovs1.chat.ru/lomonos/lomono5.html |title=''М.А. Безбородое'' М.В. Ломоносов. Фабрика В Усть-Рудицах |publisher=Grokhovs1.chat.ru |date=5 December 2001 |access-date=2 May 2011}}</ref>

===Grammarian, poet, historian===
Besides his scientific activities, Lomonosov also paid considerable attention to literature.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Pilshchikov |first=Igor |date=1 December 2016 |title=Mikhail Vasil'evich Lomonosov |script-title=ru:Михаил Васильевич Ломоносов |url=https://rvb.ru/18vek/lomonosov/ |access-date=2024-11-05 |website=Rvb.ru}}</ref> Together with his contemporaries [[Alexander Sumarokov]] and [[Vasily Trediakovsky]], Lomonosov sought the creation of a system of Russian linguistic conventions, syntax and prosody which would allow the advancement of a native literary tradition on the basis of Western European genres.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Kahn |first=A. |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2017 |isbn=9780190681173 |editor-last=Greene |editor-first=Roland |edition=4th |pages=1230 |chapter=Russia, Poetry of}}</ref> He laid out his literary theories in his work "Epistle on the Rules of Russian Versification" (1739). Lomonosov is considered the founder of [[Accentual-syllabic verse|accentual-syllabic (or syllabo-tonic) verse]] in Russian poetry,<ref name=":0" /> although statistical analysis suggests the adoption of this system was already in progress when Lomonosov publicized his theories.<ref name=":1" /> His "Ode on the Taking of Khotin" has been called the first "aesthetically indisputable example" of accentual-syllabic verse in the history of Russian literature. The [[iambic tetrameter]] and [[Iambic hexameter|hexameter]] verse and the ten-line odic stanza which he developed had a lasting role in Russian poetry. His advocacy of the iamb won out over Trediakovsky's arguments for the [[trochee]] as the basic [[metrical foot]].<ref name=":1" />

Lomonosov wrote solemn occasional, spiritual, as natural-philosophical odes, as well as an [[Anacreontics|Anacreontic]] ode.<ref name=":0" /> According to A. Kahn, "the turgidity of the Lomonosovian ode derives from a propensity to create semantic clusters, usually through etymologic play or tropes, such as [[Zeugma and syllepsis|zeugma]]." His "Evening Meditation on God's Grandeur" and "Morning Meditation on God's Grandeur" are the first Russian poems on the theme of [[Sublime (literary)|sublime]] admiration of nature.<ref name=":1" /> He applied an idiosyncratic theory to his later poems – tender subjects needed words containing the front vowel sounds E, I, Y and U, whereas things that may cause fear (like "anger", "envy", "pain" and "sorrow") needed words with back vowel sounds O, U and Y. That was a version of what is now called [[sound symbolism]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} He also wrote two verse tragedies, ''Tamira i Selim'' and ''Demofont''.<ref name=":0" /> 

Lomonosov wrote an important Russian [[Grammar book|grammar]] in 1755 (published in 1757), in which he distinguished Old Church Slavonic and colloquial Russian forms. His work on [[rhetoric]] "Kratkoye rukovodstvo k krasnorechiyu" (Brief guide to eloquence, 1748) is the first such work in Russian and expounds a theory of literature on the basis of Russian literary models. His treatise "Predisloviye o polze knig tserkovnykh v rossiyskom yazyke" (Introduction to the usefulness of church books in the Russian language, 1757) is the first Russian work on [[stylistics]]. Lomonosov adopted classical views on the existence of three distinct styles—high, middle, and low—and applied them to the Russian literary language. It also addresses the problems of the combination of Church Slavonic and Russian forms and the categorization of literary genres.<ref name=":0" /> In 1760, Lomonosov published a history of Russia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lomonosov |first=Mikhail Vasilʹevich |url=https://archive.org/details/chronologicalabr00lomo |title=A chronological abridgement of the Russian history; translated from the original Russian |date=1767 |publisher=[London, Printed for T. Snelling] |others=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Library}}</ref><ref>[http://www.hist.msu.ru/ER/Etext/index.html hist.msu.ru]</ref> In addition, he attempted to write a grand ''[[Aeneid]]''-inspired epic about Peter the Great, but he died before he could finish it.<ref>{{cite book | first1=Alex | last1=Preminger | first2=Terry V.F. | last2=Brogan | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7wwAQAAMAAJ&q=lomonosov+peter+the+great+aeneid | title=The New Princeton encyclopedia of poetry and poetics | publisher=MJF Books | year=1993 | page=1104| isbn=9781567311525 }}  (originally from the Pennsylvania State University)</ref>