Saint Petersburg School of the Theory of Linear Groups. I. Prehistory

The present survey describes the contribution of St. Petersburg mathematicians to the development of the theories of linear, classical, and algebraic groups. The first part is dedicated to the prehistory of the studies in the theory of linear groups in St. Petersburg, specifically, to the pedigree of the algebra schools created by Tartakovsky and Faddeev, and to an outline of the origin of the works by Borewicz and Suslin of the mid-1970s, which initiated systematic study in the field of classical groups and algebraic K -theory in St. Petersburg.