The name of Xujiahui comes from the famous scientist Xu Guangqi, who was a thinker, educator, astronomer, mathematician, geographer, agronomist and physician in the late Ming Dynasty, and was known as "the father of modern science in China".

Xu Guangqi once lived and worked in Shanghai, and started a farm at the intersection of Hongqiao Road, Puhuitang Road, Zhaojiabang Road and Huashan Road, engaged in agricultural scientific experiments and devoted himself to writing books. Since then, his descendants have lived in this area for a long time, so there is the origin of the place name Xujiahui in Shanghai today.

Xu Guangqi treated western learning with an open attitude, and was not satisfied with traditional Confucianism. Instead, he studied military and firearms manufacturing to reform the old calendar, mainly focusing on the compilation of "Chongzhen Almanac" and various sparse plays written for the reform of the calendar. In the almanac, he introduced the concept of round earth, and explicitly introduced the concepts of longitude and latitude of the earth.

Xu Guangqi's contribution to mathematics.

Xu Guangqi's greatest contribution to mathematics is to push Matteo Ricci's translation of Elements of Geometry (the first six volumes). Xu Guangqi put forward the practical idea of "the study of degrees", and also wrote two books, Gouguyi and Measuring Similarities and Differences.

Xu Guangqi first used the word "geometry" as a mathematical term. The translation of Geometry Elements greatly influenced China's original habit of studying and studying mathematics, and changed the direction of China's mathematics development, which was a great event in the history of Chinese mathematics. However, it was not until the early 20th century that China abolished the imperial examination and promoted learning, and elementary geometry with geometric elements as its main content became a compulsory subject in middle schools.

Xu Guangqi discussed in detail the application of mathematics in astronomical calendar, water conservancy project, temperament, art of war and military engineering, accounting and financial management, various construction projects, machinery manufacturing, geographical survey, medicine, making clocks and watches, etc. It is also suggested that interdisciplinary research should be carried out in these fields.