The invention of Mikhail Lomonosov : : a Russian national myth / / Steven A. Usitalo.

• Funder: National Endowment for the Humanities and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program
• Author: Usitalo, Steven.; National Endowment for the Humanities and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program
• TeilnehmendeR: Marker, Gary, 1948-
• Place / Publishing House: Brighton, Massachusetts : : Academic Studies Press,, 2013.; ©2013
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Imperial Encounters in Russian History
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (240 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.
• Other title: Front matter --; Contents --; Acknowledgements --; Introduction --; Chapter 1. Honor and Status in Lomonosov's "Autobiography" --; Chapter 2. Russia's "Own Platos and Quick-Witted Newtons": Inventing the Scientist --; Chapter 3. Lomonosov in the Age of Pushkin --; Chapter 4. Commemorating Russia's "First Scientist" --; Chapter 5. Boris Menshutkin and the "Rediscovery" of Lomonosov --; Epilogue. Afterlife of the Myth --; Bibliography --; Index
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• ISBN: 161811672X; 1618111957
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Steven A. Usitalo.

This study explores the evolution of Lomonosov's imposing stature in Russian thought from the middle of the eighteenth century to the closing years of the Soviet period. It reveals much about the intersection in Russian culture of attitudes towards the meaning and significance of science, as well as about the rise of a Russian national identity, of which Lomonosov became an outstanding symbol. Idealized depictions of Lomonosov were employed by Russian scientists, historians, and poets, among others, in efforts to affirm to their countrymen and to the state the pragmatic advantages of science to a modernizing nation. In setting forth this assumption, Usitalo notes that no sharply drawn division can be upheld between the utilization of the myth of Lomonosov during the Soviet period of Russian history and that which characterized earlier views. The main elements that formed the mythology were laid down in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; Soviet scholars simply added more exaggerated layers to existing representations.