"The First Russian University". Presidential Library portrays Mikhail Lomonosov

310 years ago, on November 19 (November 8, old style), 1711, Mikhail Lomonosov was born. He is a statesman, initiator of science and public education in Russia, an outstanding world-class encyclopedist and poet who laid the foundations of the Russian literary language.

Marking this memorable date, the Presidential Library updated and improved the collection Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765). It includes research, video lectures, essays and archival materials about his life and work, Lomonosov's proceedings on the grammar of the Russian language, history and metallurgy, and private correspondence.

The philologist Vasily Yakimov wrote in his essay On the Way, which Russian Literature Has Developed since the Time of Lomonosov, and the Influence that Foreign Literature had on It (1833): "Having an irresistible passion for learning, the son of an ordinary fisherman willingly left the modest hut of his parents... He overcame all obstacles and dangers; by the power of a firm and decisive will, he achieved his intention... Ten years of tireless work - and the young man gradually became a deep connoisseur of classical literature, mathematician and physicist, astronomer and metallurgist, grammarian and historian... He lives and will live in our memory in immortal creations of his literature and poetry".

In the video lecture entitled Lomonosov as a Reformer of the Russian Language (2011), Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nikolai Kazansky noted that Lomonosov was an amazing experimenter in verse. He was one of several students who learned abroad. In Germany, he studied physics and metallurgy, mathematics and philosophy. At the same time, he found "leisure to study literature", reading the works of German writers. The Slavic philologist Alexander Yatsimirsky writes in the book Russian Persons of Natural Gifts in Biographies and Images that Lomonosov liked one of the poems so much that "he decided to write a verse of the same kind in Russian". Soon, he had a proper chance. At that time, Russia was at war with Turkey. In 1739, Russian troops seized the fortress Khotinon the Dniester. Lomonosov glorified this event in the poem Ode to the Capture of Khotin. Before him, no Russian writer created something so clear and beautiful. Lomonosov sent this ode to the Academy, and the professors liked it so much that they presented it to Empress Anna Ioannovna. She ordered it to be printed and distributed to the Royal Court.

Nikolai Kazansky notes that the texts written by Lomonosov were the real inspiration.

Lomonosov was almost the first poet who could correlate the intonation of Russian speech with the metric meter and the syllabic verse of European literature.

Yatsimirsky wrote: "By his poems, Lomonosov gave examples of how to write clear and beautiful verses. Before him, no one knew how to write like that. In a special work entitled Rhetoric, Lomonosov gave the rules necessary to anyone who wants to write poems and other works correctly. That is why people often call Lomonosov "the father of new Russian literature". But he can also be called the father of the new literary language of books and educated people. Besides, he compiled scientific grammar, which describes spelling rules. The Presidential Library's portal promotes the unique lifetime edition of Mikhail Lomonosov's Russian Grammar (1757).

Even now, Lomonosov's doctrine of three speech styles is well-known and relevant. Literary critic Arseny Kadlubovsky stated in his essay On the Origins of the Lomonosov's Doctrine of Three Styles (1905) that the originality of Lomonosov was in the fact that he applied the theory of three styles to the Russian language. He described the difference in styles by the lexical composition and the links of the Church Slavonic and the Russian language.

Some philologists, says Professor Tatyana Butorina in his video lecture Lomonosov - Our Contemporary (2011), claim that Lomonosov knew 31 languages. He needed it to analyze Russian philology.

Nikolai Kazansky believes that one of Lomonosov's lessons was in the postulate that we must correctly formulate our thoughts in our native language. But the most significant thing that Lomonosov teaches us is versatility and a desire to prove ourselves for the benefit of the Fatherland in various areas.

Shortly before his death, Lomonosov wrote on a piece of paper: "I lived, suffered and I know that the children of the Fatherland will miss me". On Easter week in 1765, he died. And the Russian people, indeed, "missed" this famous person who brought so much benefit to Russia, whom Pushkin called "the first Russian university".