New archival material concerning P. S. Poretskiĭ

Abstract

In February 1992, T. Ivanovic, working with the author in the archives at Kazan University discovered new material relating to the life and work of the logician P.S. Poretskij (1846-1907). These include: various documents related to Poretskij's lectures on mathematical logic for mathematics department students at Kazan University which were intended to be given for three semesters in autumn of 1887 and all of 1888 but delivered only during the Spring 1888 semester; a complete mathematical logic program compiled by Poretskij; materials related to Poretskij's father and family; Poretskij's Magister's (master's) dissertation and the decision of the Physics-mathematics faculty council to award him the doctorate in astronomy rather than the Magister; a complete list of the sources he use (including Boole, Jevons, Schröder, and Peano); biographical data and materials regarding his illness and subsequent dismissal from Kazan University.