Territory of Russia: “Celebrating 300th birth anniversary of Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765). Academic maps and atlases” exhibition mounted in Moscow

Through November 30 2011 the Russian State Library in Moscow is running an exhibition called “Celebrating 300th birth anniversary of Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765). Academic maps and atlases”.

The exposition opens with “Biography and Maps” section which reveals maps and plans of the northern region, where Mikhail Vasilyevich spent his childhood.

The first Russian world-famous natural scientist paid much attention to cartography in Russia. As he became a head of the Geography Department in 1758, he concentrated his efforts on improvement of its work. He was absolutely dissatisfied with the “Russian Atlas” dated 1745. Lomonosov was the one to propose corrections based on the results of a series of specially organized geographical and astronomical expeditions. It was Mikhail Vasilyevich who developed their routes and prepared a question list.

A pearl of the exhibition is a handwritten “Circumpolar Map” which familiarizes visitors with northern areas of the Russian Empire in the polar projection. Ilya Avramov, Lomonosov’s pupil worked on it under the guidance of his teacher. It goes on show along with Mikhail Lomonosov’s manuscript “Brief description of different journeys across the North Sea with an indication of a possible route to East India through the Siberian Ocean” (is kept by the National Library of Russia).

A separate showcase is dedicated to geographical objects which bear the name of the great scientist. This is a town on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, a peninsula on the western coast of Amur Bay, a mountain ridge in the Arctic Ocean and even a crater on Mars.