A person ahead of his time, who placed the Institute of Statistical Mathematics and Scientific Computing (IMECC) on the international stage and broke a Eurocentric paradigm in mathematics: this is how colleagues remember the legacy of Professor Emeritus at Unicamp, Ubiratan D'Ambrósio, who passed away this Wednesday, May 12, at 88 years old. Creator of Ethnomathematics, which recognizes Mathematics in different social, economic and cultural contexts, Ubiratan joined Unicamp in 1972, already as director of IMECC, an institute he directed until 1980. He participated in the creation of the Center for Logic, Epistemology and History of Science (CLE) from Unicamp and worked on several projects linked to Education, including a UNESCO program to train doctors in mathematics in Mali, Africa, the format of which he later applied in Latin America and the Caribbean.
With a recognized academic career, nationally and internationally, Professor Ubiratan D'Ambrosio began his study path at the University of São Paulo (USP), where he graduated in Mathematics and completed his doctorate, in the area of pure mathematics, in 1963. Afterwards, he taught at USP, at the São Carlos School of Engineering, at the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas and at the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Rio Claro. In 1964, he was invited to be an associate researcher at Brown University, in the United States, where he completed his post-doctorate, following in the area of pure mathematics. At the University he was also involved in the Department of History of Mathematics. In interview granted to Dialogia magazine, the professor says he thought about staying in the country for a year, however the military coup in Brazil meant he stayed until 1972, the year he joined Unicamp. In the United States, he was also a professor at the State University of New York.
In 1970, he agreed to be responsible for the Mathematical Analysis sector in a UNESCO project to train doctors in mathematics in Mali, Africa. With the experience, he later created a similar program in 1974, aimed at countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“Our mathematics was all Eurocentric”
At the time when he was constantly traveling to Mali, Ubiratan said, in interview to the History of Science channel, which began to question the limited view of science and mathematics based on the European conception. “I began to question when I realized the wealth of things that are not called mathematics or science, but which have at their root the concept of mathematics and a rigorous and organized science, which was worked on by African people to build their society. ”.
With this vision and an interest in history, sociology and education, the teacher creates the Ethnomathematics Movement, in the mid-1970s. In 1985, the movement becomes the International Study Group on Ethnomathematics. As defined by Ubiratan, Ethnomathematics refers to “different forms of mathematics that are specific to cultural groups”. Thus, the teacher criticized traditional mathematics teaching, which took European science frameworks as a guide, disregarding the use and development of mathematics in other cultures, such as African and indigenous cultures.
“Our mathematics was all Eurocentric, it all came from the northern hemisphere. We didn't even know that in the southern hemisphere there was so much mathematics, so much geometry. When he started to recover the mathematics that existed in the southern hemisphere, it was a big shock in mathematics. He and Paulus Gerdes, who was a Dutchman working in Mozambique, got together, and that's why we had several African researchers working with us”, recalls IMECC professor João Frederico da Costa Azevedo Meyer, who was also a master's advisor Ubiratan in the 1970s.
João also highlights what he considers to be one of Professor Ubiratan's main teachings: “He said that we have to educate mathematically to build peace and social justice”.
“He placed the Institute on the international stage”
Professor Ubiratan joined Unicamp in 1972, where he remained as director of IMECC until 1980. "It was a difficult period given the political situation in the country and he had an institute that he needed to transform into an institute of international recognition. And he did that. He arrived and it has already caused it. He brought young Brazilians who were doing their doctorates abroad and made sure they came to work here. He also brought colleagues of these young people from other countries and brought them to work here too. We had Greeks, Italians, among others. He put the Institute on the international scene”, reflects Professor João Meyer.
Highlighting Ubiratan's innovative ideas to expand the reach of mathematics teaching, João also highlights his role in creating a television studio, in 1976, called Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Teaching and Curriculum Improvement (LIMEC), from which it was given a course in Analytical Geometry and Linear Algebra, which were subjects with a high failure rate at IMECC. With the work, failure rates went from 60% to 20%, he recalls. LIMEC later expanded its operations to other units and was the basis for the creation of TV Unicamp.
For Professor João, Ubiratan's legacy is immeasurable and also concerns the encouragement he gave to young students and the challenges he proposed to his colleagues. “He was a sensational person. I was often at international conferences where he gave opening talks, because his recognition was very high. He was my master's advisor, and gave me all the support for my doctorate. This is what he did to many of us.”
“A person ahead of his time”
At Unicamp, Ubiratan was also responsible for creating the transdisciplinary master’s degree “Teaching Science and Mathematics”, financed by the Organization of American States (OAS), which formed four classes between 1975 and 1978 and brought a focus on teaching and learning mathematics to the Institute. The contribution in the area of teaching and the welcoming character of Ubiratan are remembered by his colleague at the Institute, professor José Mario Martinez. Both met in 1978, when José Mario, born in Spain, arrived at Unicamp. The professor highlights that the welcome given by the then director Ubiratan was extremely affectionate.
“He was a person with extreme character and skills, he made us feel good immediately. He had a vocation for teaching, for innovating and improving the way we taught mathematics. He was ahead of his time, especially when it came to teaching mathematics and ethnomathematics. He was a person with universal thinking, something that is not very common in our academy, and he had a great talent for solving problems”, he shares.
During his career at Unicamp, Ubiratan was also coordinator of institutes under the management of rector José Aristodemu Pinotti, between 1982 and 1986, and pro-rector of University Development under the management of professors Paulo Renato and Carlos Vogt, respectively dean and general coordinator among the years 1986 and 1990.
Professor Carlos Vogt points out his positive coexistence with his then management colleague and friend and highlights his important role not only in the area of mathematics, but also in the development of Unicamp. “I lived with him from the Pinotti administration, through Paulo Renato's administration, of which I was general coordinator, always with an extremely positive relationship. He was very motivated from an intellectual and academic point of view and played a fundamental role in the implementation and consolidation of the development of IMECC's activities, in addition to playing an extremely important role also from an institutional point of view in the development of the University itself”.
Credentials
For his significant contribution in the area of Education and Mathematics, professor Ubiratan D'Ambrosio received several awards and recognitions. At Unicamp, he received the title of Professor Emeritus in 1995. In 2001, he won the Kenneth O. May Prize from the International Commission on the History of Mathematics. In 2005, he received the "Felix Klein" medal from the International Commission on Mathematics Instruction, considered the highest recognition in the area of Mathematics Education.
