Founding of Moscow University
Lomonosov and Shuvalov open higher learning to many classes
In January 1755 Empress Elizabeth signed the decree founding Moscow University, based on a plan by Mikhail Lomonosov and Ivan Shuvalov. It became Russia's first university open to students of various classes.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 18th century
Did you know
Moscow University was founded in January 1755. That November an earthquake destroyed Lisbon and shook the philosophers of the Enlightenment.
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1755 Lisbon earthquake — same year
- 1756–1763 Seven Years' War — 1 year later
- c. 1760 Start of the Industrial Revolution — 5 years later
- 1769 Watt's steam engine — 14 years later
Middle East
- 1747 Ahmad Shah Durrani founds the Afghan state — 8 years earlier
Asia
- 1757 Battle of Plassey — 2 years later
Americas
- 1776 US Declaration of Independence — 21 years later
Oceania
- 1768–1771 Cook's first voyage — 13 years later
Alive at the time
- Voltaire (aged 61)
- Benjamin Franklin (aged 49)
- Mikhail Lomonosov (aged 44)
- James Cook (aged 27)
- Catherine the Great (aged 26)
- George Washington (aged 23)
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (aged 6)
- Carl Linnaeus (aged 48)
- Leonhard Euler (aged 48)
- Elizabeth (aged 46)