| Summary: | The author analyzes the findings made by N. Gersevanov, founder of the Russian school of
soil mechanics, covered in one of his little-known works. His method of solving problems of logic
within the framework of structural mechanics boasts a backstory. N. Gersevanov employed a quote
of Galileo Galilei who had employed the "reductio ad absurdum" type of deduction to refute the
Aristotle's proposition concerning the dependence between the rate of fall of bodies and their mass.
The author argues that this work written by N. Gersevanov was the first attempt to apply the
logic in the area of civil engineering technology; this attempt anticipated further efforts and research
undertakings implemented by V. Shestakov, developer of the relay logic. N. Gersevanov employed
the language of symbols developed by Louis Couture and entered the symbols of identity, logical
addition and multiplication into the logic formulas designated for the identification of stability of port
structures. Further, N. Gersevanov switched from formulas to arguments, and he employed both
direct and indirect argumentation to refute the statement that read as "the building was unstable".
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