ABSTRACT
As a mathematical theory, knot theory appeared at the end of the 18th century. It should be emphasised that for more than two years knot theory was studied by A.T. Vandermonde, C.-F. Gauss (who found the famous electromagnetic link coefficient formula [Gau]), F. Klein, and M. Dehn [Dehn]. Systematic study of knot theory begins at the end of the 19th century, when mathematicians and physicists started to tabulate knots. A very interesting (but incorrect!) idea belonged to W. Thompson (later known as Lord Kelvin). He thought that knots should correspond to chemical elements. However, the most significant results in knot theory took place in the second part of the 20th century. These achievements are closely connected with the names of J.H. Conway, V.F.R. Jones, V.A. Vassiliev, M.L. Kontsevich, V.G. Turaev, M.N. Goussarov, J.H. Birman, L.H. Kauffman, D. Bar-Natan, and many others.
