Abstract:
The report is dedicated to the 120th jubilee of the Saint-Petersburg Polytechnic University (Institute) and to the 100th jubilee of the Faculty of Physics and Mechanics. It covers several lines and fragments of the history of mathematics and mechanics at the Polytechnic Institute in the first half of the 20th century. Among them are (i) education and research activities of the Department of High Mathematics and contribution of professors I.I. Ivanov, N.M. Guenter, R.O. Kus’min, I.M.Vinogradov, S.N.Bernstein et al; (ii) education in the field of mechanics and mathematics at the Faculty of Shipbuilding (a part of the Institute in 1902-1930) that was set at active participation of A.N. Krylov, I.V. Metshersky, A.P. Van der Vliet, I.G.Bubnov; (iii) history of organization of education in the field of aeromechanics at the Faculty of Shipbuilding, including establishment of an aerodynamics laboratory; (iv) role of A.A. Fridman in introducing the theoretical aerodynamics to the Faculty of Physics and Mechanics established in 1919; (v) education and research activities of the Department of Theoretical Mechanics (professors I.V. Metshersky, E.L. Nikolai, A.I. Lur’e, L.G. Loitsansky, N.N. Polyakhov et al); (vi) establishment of the Department of Aerodynamics (L.G. Loitsansky as the Head) and the Department of Machine Dynamics and Durability (A.I. Lur’e as the Head), and first-years activities of the departments.
