II. Mineralogy in russia

1. In Russia the beginning of mineralogy as a science is linked with the name of Mikhail Lomonosov (1711 — 1765), who was the first investigator in the sphere of geology to connect the study of minerals and rocks with the sciences of chemistry and physics. He is the founder of Russian geochemical and physico-chemical science.

2. He was exceptionally gifted, and in his scientific thinking he was ahead not only of his German-born colleagues at the Russian Academy of Sciences, but also of many of the best minds of Western Europe. Proceeding from his "corpuscular philosophy" he formulated a theory of the structure of crystalline matter, and developed the kinetic theory of gases and the mechanical theory of heat, in which he was at least a hundred years ahead of his time. Being a ta-lented chemist, he applied quantitative analysis to chemical processes, clarified the role played by air in the burning of organic matter, and formulated the law of conservation of matter long before Lavoisier.

3. Mineralogy proper began to interest Lomonosov during the second half of his scientific career. In 1742 he began to study minerals and compile a catalogue of the Mineralogical Museum of the Academy of Sciences. The remainder of his life was spent in writing the General System of Russian Mineralogy. An ardent patriot, Lomonosov wrote his geological treatises in Russian (How Me-tals are Born through the Quaking of the Earth, The Strata of the Earth, etc.). In them he gave much practical advice on prospecting for ores.

4. The late 18th century saw the appearance of the Freiberg School of Mi-neralogy which influenced the development of mineralogy in many countries. Meanwhile, mineralogical knowledge in Russia developed independently and rose to such a high level that it acquired recognition throughout Western Europe. A great role in this was played by great scientific expeditions to various provinces over the vast territory of Russia, principally in the Urals and Siberia, organized by the Academy of Sciences in the second half of the 18th century. Fundamental treatises appeared dealing with the geography of the country, its ethnography, fauna, flora, and mineral resources.

5. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries numerous deposits of gemstones and gem materials (tourmaline, topaz, malachite, etc.), of gold and platinum as well as of iron, copper, lead, silver, etc. were discovered. All these discoveries, especially of new minerals which were often displayed at international fairs, were generally recognized outside Russia as highly important contributions to the development of world science.

III. Mineralogy and geochemistry in the ussr

Russian and Soviet scientists made an indisputable and very substantial contribution to the progress of mineralogy as a world science. The foundations of modern mineralogy were laid by many great Russian mineralogists, from Lomonosov and Severgin to Fyodorov, Vernadsky and other outstanding scientists of our time.