Colombian Mathematical Society


The Colombian Mathematical Society is an organisation founded in 1955 to promote the development of mathematics teaching and research in Colombia, and is the main professional society of Colombian mathematicians. It has two publications, the Colombian Journal of Mathematics and Lecturas Matemáticas, and awards three prizes: the National Mathematics Award, the José Celestino Mutis Prize, and the José Fernando Escobar Prize.
The Colombian Mathematical Society is based in Bogotá, and is a member of the. It is recognised by the International Mathematics Union.
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History

The Colombian Mathematical Society was founded at a meeting in the home of on 10 August 1955. Carrizosa Valenzuela had been greatly influenced by two European mathematicians, Carlo Federici Casa and János Horváth, who were working in Bogotá at the time. He felt the need to modernise Colombian mathematics and develop it as a subject independent of engineering.
The founding members of the society were :
  • Jorge Acosta Villaveces
  • Julio Carrizosa Valenzuela
  • Guillermo Castillo Torres
  • Carlo Federici Casa
  • Luis de Greiff Bravo
  • Leopoldo Guerra Portocarrero
  • Juan Horváth
  • Jose Ignacio Nieto
  • Luis Ignacio Soriano
  • Antonio María Gómez
  • Luciano Mora Osejo
  • Dario Rozo
  • Gustavo Perry Zubieta
  • Gabriel Poveda Ramos
  • Michel Valero
  • Erwin von der Walde
  • Henry Yerly
The society initially had two governing statutes, and Carrizosa served as the first president.

Activities

The Colombian Mathematical Society organises the Colombian Mathematics Congress every two years, in association with various academic institutions in Colombia.

Commissions

The SCM supports three commissions with specific goals.
  • The Mathematics Education and Dissemination Commission aims to improve mathematics education at every level in Colombia.
  • The Equity and Gender Commission aims to increase the participation and visibility of women in mathematics in Colombia, and to cooperate with other national and international organisations with similar goals.
  • The Applied and Industrial Mathematics Commission Comisión de Matemáticas Aplicadas e Industriales) was established in 2019 to promote applied mathematics in Colombia and to create an intellectual community of interested professionals and students. It organises the Colombian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Conference.

Publications

The Colombian Mathematical Society has two publications.

Past publications

From its inception in March 1967 to 1979 the journal Boletín de Matemáticas was jointly published by the SCM and the mathematics department of the National University of Colombia; since 1980 it is solely published by the latter.
In 1975 the SCM and the mathematics department of the National University of Colombia created the journal Notas de Matemáticas, which focused on mathematics teaching. It is no longer published.

Prizes

The Colombian Mathematical Society manages three mathematical prizes, which are awarded at meetings of the Colombian Mathematics Congress.

The National Mathematics Award

The National Mathematics Award is awarded to a mathematician who has "excelled in their professional work and made a fundamental contribution to the development of mathematics in ."
Past recipients of the prize are:

The José Celestino Mutis Prize

The José Celestino Mutis Prize
is awarded to a teacher of mathematics who has "excelled in their professional work and made a fundamental contribution to the development of mathematics in ."
Past recipients of the prize are:
  • María Falk de Losada
  • Jesús Hernando Pérez
  • Carlos Eduardo Vasco
  • Alberto Campos Sánchez
  • Myriam Caicedo
  • Publio Suárez Sotomonte

The José Fernando Escobar Prize

The José Fernando Escobar Prize is awarded to a mathematician who has "excelled in their research in pure or applied mathematics, through the achievement of exceptional published results."
Past recipients of the prize are:

Governance

Presidents

The Society has had 17 presidents.
  • Julio Carrizosa Valenzuela, 1955–1975
  • Gustavo Perry Zubieta, 1957–1963
  • Carlos Lemoine Amaya, 1963–1967
  • Ricardo Losada Márquez, 1967–1968
  • Jaime Lesmes Camacho, 1968–1970, 1983–1987
  • Otto Raul Ruiz, 1970–1971
  • Jairo Charris Castañeda, 1971–1973
  • Carlos Ruiz Salguero, 1973–1975
  • Alonso Takahashi Orozco, 1975–1983
  • Myriam Muñoz de Ozac, 1987–1990
  • Víctor Albis González, 1990–1993
  • Ernesto Acosta Gempeler, 1993–1998
  • Leonardo Rendón, 1998–2003
  • Carlos H. Montenegro, 2003–2017
  • Bernardo Uribe, 2017–2020
  • Alf Onshuus, 2020–2023
  • Sofía Pinzón, 2023–present

Statutes

On 13 May 1999 the statutes of the Society were reformed, increasing in number from two to 43. The statutes defining the name and purpose of the society are as follows.