Optics and electricity, gravity and heat, metallurgy and meteorology, geography and art, literature and history, philosophy and chemistry, astronomy and geology. We are all familiar with these teachings, but not everyone knows that Mikhail Vasilievich made a significant contribution to these areas.
The most important discoveries of Lomonosov concern physics, chemistry and astronomy. These great achievements have surpassed the scientific works of Western European scientists for decades.
At the beginning of the thousand seven hundred and forty-eighth year, Mikhail Vasilievich insisted on the construction and equipment according to his drawings of the chemical laboratory at the Academy of Sciences, where he began to analyze samples of various minerals and ores. Lomonosov extracted these specimens from mining plants in all corners of Russia.
The chemical and physical experiments conducted by Lomonosov in his personal laboratory were always of unrivaled accuracy. Once, in the year one thousand seven hundred and forty-eight, Mikhail Vasilievich conducted such an experiment: by weighing a sealed vessel of glass with lead plates, he calcined it, and then determined the mass again. The plates were thus coated with oxide, however, the total weight of the vessel after the experiment remained unchanged. As a result, one of the most important laws of nature was discovered - the conservation of matter. A printed publication of the law appeared only twelve years later, in the scientific dissertation “Reasoning about the fluid and solidity of bodies”. This discovery of Lomonosov is rightfully considered the most significant in the above law.
Mikhail Vasilievich was the first to formulate the basic provisions on the theory of gases related to the kinetic section. Lomonosov believed that any body consists of microscopic moving particles - atoms and molecules moving faster when the object is heated, and when it is cooled - much slower.
The scientific discoveries of Lomonosov constantly touched the most unpredictable areas and, thus, led Mikhail Vasilyevich to the sphere of fine arts. In the fifties of the 18th century, the scientist began to show a special interest in bead and glass factories. It was thanks to Lomonosov that such a facing technique as Russian mosaic appeared.
In the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-first, Mikhail Vasilievich observed the passage of Venus between the Sun and the Earth. This very rare phenomenon was monitored by scientists from many countries who created long-distance expeditions for this. But only the genius Lomonosov, being at home in St. Petersburg and watching through a pipe, made the greatest discovery that the atmosphere exists on Venus, but is more dense than on our planet. This discovery of Lomonosov alone would be enough for distant descendants to remember his name.
Without Lomonosov’s next invention, it would be extremely difficult for astronomers to penetrate deep into the Universe, because Mikhail Vasilievich created the then-powerful type of reflective telescope. There was only one mirror in the reflector, which was located with an inclination. It made it possible to observe a brighter image of objects, because in this case the light was not lost.
Ahead of modern science at that time, Lomonosov was the very first scientist to realize that the surface of a star called the Sun is a fierce ocean of fire, because in it even "stones boil like water."
Lomonosov's discoveries also touched on the creation of a scientific Russian language. It began to appear only under Tsar Peter I and consisted exclusively of borrowed foreign words. To indicate any technical things, all experts used Latin, Dutch, German and Polish words, and they, unfortunately, were incomprehensible to others.
Lomonosov’s achievements marked the streamlining of terminology and the limitation of the number of foreign expressions that filled the literary and scientific Russian language at the beginning of the eighteenth century.