Sergei Gerasimovich Domashnev

He was the son of a noble secretary of the Main Salt Office. He studied at the Gymnasium of Moscow University. He was actively published in the magazines edited by Mikhail Kheraskov at the University, where he authored a number of translations, mainly of a moralizing nature. He is the author of a number of poetical and prose works. He participated in the compilation "Translations from the Encyclopedia" (1767), prepared on Kheraskov's initiative, for which he translated the articles "Geography" and "Rome". In 1767 he was a lieutenant of the Novgorod Regiment, as well as a deputy of the Commission on the New Code from the Sumy nobility. At the end of 1773 he was sent to the court of Frederick II with the official news of the wedding of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich. He visited Voltaire in Ferney. In 1775 he was appointed director of the Academy of Sciences. Following a conflict with the academicians he obtained a leave of absence and was replaced by Princess Ekaterina Dashkova in 1783. He was exiled from St Petersburg by personal order of the Empress.