Lesson nine

Read and translate the text.

Lomonosov

The great Russian scientist, outstanding poet and enlightener, M.V. Lomonosov, was born in the village of Denisovka (now Lomonosovo), far off in the North, on November 19, 1711. He was very young when he easily mastered reading and writing. The boy longed for knowledge, he longed to master science. That longing was so great that at the age of 19 he left his father's home and started on foot for Moscow in spite of the long distance and the cold winter.

He experienced great want and countless hardships during his student years both in Moscow and later on in Germany where he had been sent to complete his education. Studying at the academy, he got only 3 copecks a day, that scholarship being his only means of living.

He mastered natural science as well as history, philoso­phy and engineering. In addition to the Russian language, he had a good knowledge of foreign languages, namely German, French, Greek and, last but not least, Latin which was the international language of science at that time. At the age of 35 M.V. Lomonosov was already an experienced professor and an academician.

It is quite impossible to name a scientific problem he did not turn his attention to. Nevertheless, theory alone left him dissatisfied. He knew by experience that it was useless and unreliable if it did not find practical applica­tion and could not, therefore, serve the good of his people and his country. He always tried to find practical applica­tion for the phenomena studied.

M.V. Lomonosov possessed an unusual capacity for work. He carried out an extraordinary amount of useful, educational work in various fields of scientific and cultur­al life. He carried on scientific research in natural science and made numerous reports on the results of his achieve­ments. He lectured to students and translated the works of various foreign scientists into Russian for he 'wanted to educate "our own Newtons". For this very purpose he founded Moscow University and wrote his odes as well as numerous books on the Russian language and literature, on physics and so on.

For many years the great scientist carried on systematic experimental laboratory work both in physics and chemistry for, according to his opinion, without observation and experi­ment there could be no progress in science. In this connec­tion, one might ask: "Do you know that Lomonosov or­ganized the first chemical laboratory in our country?" One more question: "Who built the first glass-making fac­tory in Russia?" It was Lomonosov, of course!

As a materialist, M.V. Lomonosov studied physical properties of bodies on the basis of the molecular and atomic theory. He developed the kinetic theory of gases, the molecular kinetic theory of heat and first discovered the law of conser­vation of matter and momentum. He also found that light, heat and electricity are different forms of motion. As a result, many of his discoveries became invaluable contri­bution to world science.

From the very first and to the last days of his life he struggled alone for Russian science and the enlightenment of the Russian people.