Peter the First, or Peter the Great, was one of the most outstanding rulers and reformers in Russian history. Peter was a healthy, lively and clever child. He loved military games and enjoyed carpentry, blacksmithing and printing. He was married at the age of 17. At first Peter ruled together with his brother Ivan and his sister Sofya. In 1696 he became a sole ruler and in 1721 he became the Emperor of Russia. Peter I is famous for drawing Russia further to the East. He also transferred the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Peter travelled much in Western Europe and tried to carry western customs and habits to Russia. He introduced western technologies. He completely changed the Russian government and military system, he increased the power of the monarch and reduced the power of the boyars and the church. In foreign policy, Peter waged a war with Turkey (1695-1696), the Great Northern War with Sweden (1700-1721) and a war with Persia (1722-1723). In these wars he wanted to get access to the Baltic, the Black and the Caspian Sea. He managed to get to the shores of the Baltic and the Caspian Sea. Peter I played a great role in Russian history. After his death Russia was much more secure and progressive than it had been before his reign.

 

Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov was a great Russian scientist and writer. He studied chemistry, physics, astronomy, geography, art, philology and others. Lomonosov was also a poet, who created the basis of the modern Russian literary language. Lomonosov was born on the 19-th of November, 1711 in the village of Denisovka, not far from Arkhangelsk, in the North of Russia. When Mikhail was ten years old his father began to take him to the sea. The dangerous life of a fisherman taught Lomonosov to observe natural phenomena. But he did not want to be a fisherman. Learning was his real passion. He spent every spare moment with books. In 1730 Lomonosov left the village and went to Moscow, where he entered the Slavic Greek Latin Academy. Lomonosov lived on three kopecs a day, but he made rapid progress. He was extremely hardworking and persistent. Five years later he graduated at the top of his class. After that he studied in St. Petersburg and then went to Germany. There he learnt German and studied philosophy, mathematics, chemistry and began writing poetry. In Germany Lomonosov fell in love with Elisabeth Christine Zilch. They got married in 1740. Lomonosov returned to Russia in 1741. He worked in the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1745 Lomonosov was made a professor. He was the first Russian member of the Academy. In 1755 Lomonosov joined his patron Count Ivan Shuvalov in founding Moscow State University, which is named after the scientist now. Lomonosov died in 1765 in St. Petersburg at the age of 53. He is remembered as a patriot, a talented scientist and an outstanding personality. Alexander Pushkin described Lomonosov as a person of formidable willpower and keen scientific mind.