 Science and technology in Russia blossomed since the Age of Enlightenment, when Peter the Great founded the Russian Academy of Sciences and Saint Petersburg State University, and polymath Mikhail Lomonosov established the Moscow State University, paving the way for a strong native tradition in learning and innovation.In the 19th and 20th centuries the country produced a large number of notable scientists and inventors.The Russian physics school began with Lomonosov who proposed the law of conservation of matter preceding the energy conservation law.