XI International Conference of the Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia
10th-14th July 2023
Reut Ullman (Columbia Univeristy, NY, USA), “Projecting Chymistry in Eighteenth-Century Russia”
In this paper, I consider Mikhail Lomonosov’s (1711-1765) forays into practical and then industrial chymistry through the lens of projecting. Through the close study of proposals, letters, conversations, and gifts submitted and exchanged between Lomonosov and various state bodies, statesmen, his patron, and the Empress that lead up to the approval and construction of the factory at Ust Ruditsa, I show how Lomonosov’s projecting strategies were critical to and co-evolved with his broader ambitions of turning chymistry into a courtly science in Russia. In doing so, I untangle the intricate interplay of court rivalries, competing political interests, and aesthetic tastes that Lomonosov needed to assuage and maneuver in order to attain what surely once seemed unfathomable for a peasant from Kholmogory: hereditary estate and serfs. By considering Lomonosov's entrepreneurial activities through the lens of projecting, I expose the violent and disruptive nature of his projecting, for to realize his ambitions, he imposed not only upon other disciplines and their practitioners but also upon natural resources and ordinary people of whom he assumed ownership.
