Jacob Herman, professor primarius et Matheseos sublimioris of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and his speech on the origin and development of geometry at a public meeting of the Academy of Sciences on August 1, 1726

Jacob Hermann (1678–1733), Swiss mathematician and mechanic, favorite student of Jacob Bernoulli, relative of Leonhard Euler, was the first professor of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, arrived in St. Petersburg on August 15 (26), 1725 and already on November 13, 1725 opened the first meeting of the Academy report “On the spheroid figure of the Earth.” He considered the largest luminary and the face of the young Academy as a famous mathematician, a secular and well-educated person, an oldest of the invited scientists. The honor of speaking at public meetings attended by the Empress was among his duties. On August 1, 1726, Empress Catherine I with her family and retinue attended the second public meeting of the Academy. Herman prepared a big speech, but for fear of tiring the empress and the courtiers, he shortened his speech. In 1728, this speech published in St. Petersburg. Here we offer a first translation of Hermann’s speech “On the origin and development of geometry.” According to the author, it reveals not only “the beginning, development and triumph of mathematics,” but also gives a contemporary (to 1726) picture of the state of mathematics, and also outlines the challenges in mathematics and mechanics facing young academics.
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