Mikhail Lomonosov's Image in School Books of the 19th — 21th Centuries

Abstract

National and civil identity base on the mass historical consciousness, which in its turn is formed partly by the means of teaching history at schools. So school-books are an important instrument of the state-power and academic society used to influence the development of historical memory and national consciousness. In the course of time authors of school books reorient from one events and figures to some other, shift accents, estimates and interpretations. The figure of M. V. Lomonosov stays constant in the course of decades. His significance and positive estimate seem not to change. However we cannot say that the image really does not change at all. The transformations of the great Russian scientist on the pages of school books are under consideration in this article. The author differentiates the constant consistent of the narratives, which stay the same in course of many decades; accent shifts, changes in fact choice and interpretations. The main base of the research is the school books for history and literature; sciences, physics and chemistry books are used too. The analysis of school-books leads the author of current research to the following conclusions. The story of childhood and youth of M. V. Lomonosov, the image of encyclopedist and enlightener, the patriotic motive slightly changed throughout the period under consideration. The changing motives are: estimate of the port’s talent, role in Moscow university foundation, the image of Elisabeth’s magnate and the image of pious Christian / church and religious prejudice antagonist.