Education in Moscow

Early life and family

Lomonosov was born in the village of Denisovka (later renamed Lomonosovo in his honor) in Archangelgorod Governorate, on an island not far from Kholmogory, in the far north of Russia.^[1] His father, Vasily Dorofeyevich Lomonosov, was a prosperous peasant fisherman turned ship owner, who amassed a small fortune transporting goods from Arkhangelsk to Pustozyorsk, Solovki, Kola, and Lapland.^[1] Lomonosov's mother was Vasily's first wife, a deacon's daughter, Elena Ivanovna Sivkova.^[2]

He remained at Denisovka until he was ten, when his father decided that he was old enough to participate in his business ventures, and Lomonosov began accompanying Vasily on trading missions.^[2]

Learning was young Lomonosov's passion, however, not business. The boy's thirst for knowledge was insatiable. Lomonosov had been taught to read as a boy by his neighbor Ivan Shubny, and he spent every spare moment with his books.^[2] He continued his studies with the village deacon, S.N. Sabelnikov, but for many years the only books he had access to were religious texts. When he was fourteen, Lomonosov was given copies of Meletius Smotrytsky's Modern Church Slavonic (a grammar book) and Leonty Magnitsky's Arithmetic.^[3] On his religious views, Lomonosov was a deist.^[4]^[5]

In 1724, his father married for the third and final time. Lomonosov and his stepmother Irina had an acrimonious relationship. Unhappy at home and intent on obtaining a higher education, which Lomonosov could not receive in Denisovka, he was determined to leave the village.^[6]

Education in Moscow

The Lomonosov house in Marburg

In 1730, at nineteen, Lomonosov went to Moscow on foot, because he was determined to study.^[6] Not long after arriving, Lomonosov obtained admission into the Slavic Greek Latin Academy by falsely claiming to be a priest's son.^[7] That initial falsehood would nearly get him expelled from the academy a few years later when discovered.^[8]

Lomonosov lived on three kopecks a day, living off only black bread and kvas, but he made rapid progress scholastically.^[9] After three years in Moscow he was sent to Kiev to study for one year at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He quickly became dissatisfied with the education he was receiving there, and returned to Moscow several months ahead of schedule, resuming his studies there.^[9] He completed a twelve-year study course in only five years, graduating at the top of his class. In 1736, Lomonosov was awarded a scholarship to Saint Petersburg State University.^[10] He plunged into his studies and was rewarded with a two-year grant to study abroad at the University of Marburg, in Germany.^[11]

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