Historia y sus personajesZoel García de Galdeano estuvo en Almería: Primer matemático español ponente en un ICM, Zúrich, 1897

Resum

Before entering the subject of this article, which is to give a short biographical reference to the mathematician García de Galdeano and his very brief stay in Almería, I want to tell how I became interested in her figure. Almost 20 years ago I began to visit the University of Zaragoza and collaborate in research with members of the Mathematical Analysis area, in whose department two activities stood out: the Rubio de France Seminar (a complete review in [1]) and the preliminary service. publications of the defunct Mathematical Seminar García de Galdeano. I always showed some curiosity about these mathematicians that was satisfied by my colleagues in Zaragoza. I always showed some curiosity about these mathematicians that was satisfied by my colleagues in Zaragoza. But in truth it was not until 2013 during a stay at the MFO in Oberwolfach (Germany) that I felt, once again, curious about a book of minutes that was in that splendid library (the information is digitized on the IMU website, but the paper continues to attract). That book [2] corresponded to the First International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) held in Zurich (Switzerland) in 1897. At that first congress held from August 8 to 11, among other speakers, were Henri Poincaré ( 1854-1912), Adolf Hurwitz (1859-1919), Heinrich Weber (1842-1913), Charles-Jean de la Vallée Poussin (1866-1962), Charles Picard (1856-1941), Jacques Hadamard (1865-1963), Émile Borel (1871-1956), Giuseppe Peano (1858-1932), Felix Klein (1849-1925), etc. Among them, only one Spanish mathematician, Zoel García de Galdeano, who gave a lecture entitled L’unification des concepts dans les mathématiques on August 10 in the Analysis and Theory of Functions section. Subsequently, he would participate in the Second International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris in 1900, remembered because David Hilbert (1862-1943) presented the famous list of 23 open problems; and in the following international congresses held in: Heidelberg (1904); Rome (1908); Cambridge (1912) where he was also a member of the International Committee; and Strasbourg (1920). Again curiosity led me to Google that mathematician, and Wikipedia [3] informed me of "... having been Professor of Mathematics at the Secondary Institutes of Ciudad Real, Almería and Toledo ...". Zoel García de Galdeano was in Almería!