Russian scholars have long considered Mikhail Lomonosov to have been a true giant among eighteenth-century scientists and scholars, and Russian historians of science consider On the Strata of the Earth to be his most important contribution to geology. Published in 1763, this work predates James Hutton’s celebrated Theory of the Earth by a quarter century, with provocative similarities and insightful differences. Regrettably, relatively few people beyond the borders of Russia have been able to read what Lomonosov wrote, so his views on rock-forming processes and Earth history have languished in obscurity. In this first English translation of Lomonosov’s On the Strata of the Earth, the translators have transformed Lomonosov’s descriptions and interpretations of the materials, morphology, processes, and history of the Earth into accessible English, while preserving his voice and the flavor of his style.