History of Science and Engineering Annotation << Back The First Part of Jacob Hermann's Speech "On the Origin and Development of Geometry" at a Meeting of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences on August 1, 1726 Sinkevich G.I. The beginning of J. Hermann's speech "On the Origin and Development of Geometry", published in 1728, prepared and partly delivered at the Second Ceremonial Session of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences on August 1, 1726, is a preface, possibly written by L. Blumentrost, the president of the Academy, or his assistant and deputy I.D. Schumacher. The preface explains that the Second Session of the Academy was postponed from May 7 to August 1, 1726, who spoke and why J. Herman was forced to shorten his speech. Jacob Hermann's direct speech begins with an appeal to Empress Catherine I. He expresses admiration for the genius of Peter I, who founded the St. Petersburg Academy, and the hope that Catherine, widowed in February 1725, would continue his noble work. Herman is embarrassed by the fact that he, a mathematician, must speak on behalf of the entire Academy, but he yields to necessity and stipulates the plan of his speech: in the fi rst part, the beginning, development and triumph of sciences, primarily mathematics and its foundations, geometry, in the second part - about optics and telescopes. He talks about the structure of mathematics, consisting of geometry, arithmetic, mechanics, optics and astronomy. He tells about the origin of geometry in ancient Egypt and its development in ancient Greece: from Thales to Pythagoras, Hippocrates, listing many Greek mathematicians, but singling out Euclid, Apollonius and Archimedes. He values Pythagoras for his analytical method of proof, which consists in the assumption that what is sought has already been found by solution. He calls Euclid great because in his "Elements" everything is so ordered and distributed that it creates a perfect Science, which cannot be destroyed by any weapon of the skeptics. Speaking about Archimedes, Herman points out the continuity of his ideas in the works of 17th century mathematicians E. Torricelli and B. Cavalieri. Speaking about Apollonius, Hermann points out the continuity of his ideas in the works of such 17th-century mathematicians as Gregoire de Saint-Vincent, G.-F. de L'Hôpital, E. Halley and others. In concluding his account of the ancient mathematicians, Herman concludes that the weakness of the ancients was to consider the smallest concepts that went beyond their defi nitions and axioms, and to try to justify everything in order to cut off the tricks of the skeptic. Thus, Hermann leads the competent listener to the next part of his speech, namely, to the origin and importance of infi nitesimal calculus. The next part of his speech will be published in the next issue of the journal. Keywords: Jacob Hermann, St. Petersburg Academy, ancient mathematics. DOI: 10.25791/intstg.10.2024.1503 Pp. 03-11.