Many are familiar with the story of how Mikhail Lomonosov on foot in the winter reached a fish convoy from his native village to Moscow - so he strove for knowledge so strongly. We decided to check how believable this story is.
In 2018, President Vladimir Putin during television At the Kazan Federal University, Mikhail Lomonosov called the best example of the desire for knowledge and the realization of his dreams, since he "came from Arkhangelsk to St. Petersburg." Lomonosov drew attention to the erroneous destination. TJournal. Nevertheless many It is still believed that Lomonosov went all the way to Moscow on foot. Some enthusiasts are even trying repeat Lomonosov’s path, walking more than 1000 km from the Arkhangelsk region to Moscow.
Mikhail Lomonosov was born Not in Arkhangelsk, as many believe, but 80 km from it - in the village of Denisov Arkhangelsk province. The distance to the center of Moscow is approximately 1160 km. It was such a distance that 19-year-old Lomonosov overcame in three weeks of journey-from December 1730 to January 1731. That is, the average distance that Lomonosov was supposed to take in a day is 55 km. At the average speed of a person’s walking of 5 km/h, such a protracted march-cut seems difficult. At the same time, it is worth recalling that in those days the winter roads were most likely broken and noticeable. And in December, which usually falls on the winter solstice, the road time was limited by a short light day.
Two volunteers who in 2010 Repeated Lomonosov’s path from his native village to Moscow also overcame the distance in 21 days: from December 5 to 26. True, in the 21st century, enthusiasts used the GPS navigator, instead of a broken road, they followed along the Moscow-Kholmogory highway, and at the same time they drove a hitchhiker.
So how then did Lomonosov reach Moscow, if not on foot? IN Notes The first biographer and friend of Lomonosov, Yakov Shtelin, says: “In the seventeenth year*, in the winter on the night, he left secretly from his father’s house, following the convoy with the fish, which went to Moscow. He caught up with him the next day, 80 miles from his village, on a large road. The clerk did not want to take him with him; But he asked with tears to give him an opportunity to look at Moscow. ”
*Subsequently, biographer Nikolai Lyubimov Clarifiedthat Lomonosov still left the house at the 20th year of his life, and not on the 17th.
Another biography of Lomonosov, attached to the academic publication of his works in 1784 and also based on the notes of Shtelin, gives more detailed description Those events: “For a long time, he had a desire to escape in which any of the cities said in order to go there. I was impatiently waiting for a convenient occasion. In the seventeenth year of his age, it was finally opened. From his village, a caravan went to Moscow with a freezing fish. In every possible way hiding his intention, in the morning he looked, as if from one curiosity, to leave this caravan. The next night, as everyone in his father’s house was asleep, wearing two shirts and a naked sheepskin coat, chased after this. I did not forget to take with it my dear books, then constituting his entire library: grammar and arithmetic. On the third day, he overtook him in seventy miles. The caravan order did not want to take him with him before, but he was convinced by the form of request and tears, so that he would give him a Moscow, finally agreed. Three weeks later, this city arrived in the capital. <...> Meanwhile, they searched for him for a long time and, not found anywhere, revered that lost, before returning the convoy along the last winter path: then they already found out where he and what he is. ”
According to the text of M. I. Verevkin, Lomonosov caught up with the convoy on the third day of the path of 70 miles (75 km) from the village. That is, in fact, Lomonosov walked only about 6% of the path, and the rest of the distance drove on the cart -harvested cart as a commercial caravan.
Most of the untruth
Image: N.I. Kislyakov. Young man Lomonosov on the way to Moscow. 1948. Source: Culture.ru
Read on the topic:
- TASS: Lomonosov's journey to Moscow (infographics)
- "Culture.ru": From Kholmogor to Moscow: Lomonosov Road
- "History.rf": Myths and facts about the life of Mikhail Lomonosov
- Did Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov say that the mathematics “my mind is put in order”?
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