In 1736 the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences sent twelve talented young men to Europe, where they were to study languages, the technical and natural sciences, get to know European life and all that sort of thing

In 1736 the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences sent twelve talented young men to Europe, where they were to study languages, the technical and natural sciences, get to know European life and all that sort of thing. Among these gifted students was the 25-year-old Mikhail Lomonosov, who studied at the University of Marburg and at Freiberg. Mikhail Lomonosov was a very tall man, close to two metres. And when he was on his way home from his studies, at an inn in Düsseldorf on the road to The Hague he was spotted by Prussian soldiers, who were on the lookout everywhere for tall cadets for the army of their master Frederick, who was gathering giants into a special regiment, recruiting them not only by lawful methods but quite simply by deceiving and kidnapping them, however scandalous that may sound. In short, Lomonosov was caught. The next morning he woke up already holding the papers of a Prussian soldier: he had been taken while a little tipsy, and found himself in the fortress of Wesel. And as for what the penalty for desertion has been in every age, you know that yourselves. But Mikhailo Vasilyevich managed to outwit the army command: he pretended that he was delighted to serve Prussia and set about delving into all the intricacies of military affairs, until attention to him slackened, and then he simply bolted over fences and past watchtowers, escaped his pursuers and managed to make it to the border, where they no longer pursued him.