Mikhail Lomonosov, 1711–65, stands out in history as a figure of world importance and true representative of universal man: scientist and scholar, poet and writer, grammarian and historian, artist and philosopher. The 300th anniversary of his birth falls in the year 2011. On the eve of the event, the National Library of Russia launched an exhibition of maps from its collections.

Mikhail Lomonosov became a head of the Geography Department in 1758 and continued to hold the post until 1765. A year before his official appointment, Lomonosov got closely acquainted with the situation and developed a detailed plan to remove "excesses, shortcomings and obstructions" in the Geography Department.

He outlined three areas of future work: the institutional strengthening of the department, reinforcement of its personnel with Russian surveyors and cartographers, provision of accurate scientific data and reliable geographical information necessary for cartographic work. In the instruction dated 3 October 1757, M.V. Lomonosov defined strict rules for the department staff, and the organizational and methodological principles of map making. It was intended to discuss collectively all the theoretical, methodological and technical issues and progress reports at the weekly meetings, to carry out work on revising the atlas of 1745 through the use of the newest materials, to mainain records for maps, to exclude any hypothetical elements of map content, not based on verified data. In addition, the plan's objectives include the collegial discussion and approval of original author's maps by the general meeting of the Department; arrange for the systematic identification, acquisition and storage of manuscripts and printed cartographic materials - sources of map construction. Mikhail Lomonosov commissioned Professor N.I. Popov and A.D. Krasilnikov to teach theoretical and practical astronomy to students in the academic high school and the university, and adjunct J.F. Schmidt and I.F. Truskott to train them on map-making.

Believing that the main task of the Geography Department is to improve the geometric accuracy along with the content of the produced maps, Lomonosov wrote a number of scientific manuals: "Opinion on sending astronomers and surveyors to the locations in Russia for which it is highly necessary to determine Latitude and Longitude" (1759), "The notion of geographical expeditions", "Sample instruction for expeditions" and "Opinion on using the current revision for the benefit of geography in Russia and composition of the new atlas"(1764). Unfortunately, Lomonosov's initiatives have not been fully implemented because of the difficult relations with the leadership of the Academy, but they are largely prepared academic expeditions of 1768-1774.

At his suggestion in 1761, "geographic questionnaires", consisting of 30 items, were sent to the governments and the provinces of Russia to collect information about the nature and the economic geography of these territories. By 1764, the Department of Geography compiled 4 volumes of responses to the survey questions, which provided detailed topographic information about a half of the country.