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Moscow University is also known as Lomonosov Moscow State University. It was established in 1755 by Empress Elizabeth at the suggestion of Mikhail Lomonosov. Originally there were three faculties: Philosophy, Law, and Medicine. Lectures were in Russian and Latin and were frequently open to the public. The university was open to commoners as well as nobles, but serfs were not admitted. In the beginning tuition was free. Outstanding students were sent abroad for advanced study after graduation. In 1756 the first book publishing press in Russia was opened in and operated by the university. A literary periodical press followed in 1760. The university library was open to the general public. The university was completely destroyed in 1812 during the conflict with Napoleon, but was rebuilt and it's library restored by 1815. During the period between 1905 and 1907 the student body advocated the abolishment of the monarchy and the establishment of a republican form of government. Following the Revolution of 1917 the university was caught up in a succession of socialist experiments in education which stifled advanced studies but increased enrollment. When Moscow was attacked by Nazi Germany in the early days of WWII, the university formed a volunteer division which fought heroically in the defense of the capital. Following the end of WWII the present campus was constructed and the number of faculties, professors, and students was greatly expanded. In 1946, the first foreign students were admitted and starting in 1959, foreign students were admitted to the Russian Language Education Center. At the present time, the student body numbers 40,000 and the school boasts eleven Nobel Prize winners on its 3,000 professor faculty. There are nine million books in the library.
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