A few months ago, all issues of the Revista de la Sociedad Española de Matemáticas (Journal of the Spanish Mathematical Society), a pioneering scientific journal from the early 20th century, were made publicly available. This publication joins the archive of Spanish mathematician Julio Rey Pastor, also preserved and digitized by the Jorge Juan Library of the CSIC, which serves ICMAT and IFT. The collection of documents provides insight into the early stages of mathematical research in Spain.
Cover of issue 51 of the Revista de la Sociedad Matemática Española. Image: SIMURG.
Ágata Timón (ICMAT)
The Jorge Juan Library of the Center for Theoretical Physics and Mathematics of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), in collaboration with the Scientific Research Resources Unit of the CSIC, recently carried out the digitization of one of the first mathematical research periodicals in Spain, titled Revista de la Sociedad Matemática Española. All 52 published issues can be accessed through the CSIC’s SIMURG Portal.
“The publication began in 1911, after several previous attempts to launch mathematical journals in the country, driven voluntarily by university professors, which had limited success due to lack of resources,” explains Ricardo Martínez de Madariaga, director of the Jorge Juan Library, which serves ICMAT. In this case, the initiative, which lasted until 1917, was promoted by the Spanish Mathematical Society, predecessor of the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society (RSME). “In fact, one of the main reasons for founding the Society was to secure resources to publish this journal,” he says.
The journal reflects the debates and topics of interest to Spanish mathematicians in the early 20th century. It presents original works by many of the most prominent national figures of the time—such as Cecilio Jiménez Rueda, Esteban Terradas, and others; dissemination texts on advanced mathematics topics; reviews of recent mathematical publications; and Q&As on mathematical problems.
“It also includes summaries of the minutes of the first meetings of the Spanish Mathematical Society and reports on the meetings of the Exact Sciences section at congresses organized by the Spanish Association for the Advancement of Science,” Martínez de Madariaga adds. Among the Society’s secretaries and leading promoters was the mathematician from La Rioja, Julio Rey Pastor.
Julio Rey Pastor was one of the major promoters of mathematics in Spain and Argentina. Image: CSIC.
Julio Rey Pastor, promoter of Spanish mathematics
Rey Pastor was one of the main drivers of the modernization of Spanish science. Through institutions such as the Mathematics Laboratory and Seminar, he organized advanced mathematics lectures, published research papers, created a modern mathematics library, translated and disseminated foreign mathematical texts, and maintained contact with international scientific institutions.
In the early 20th century, Rey Pastor was one of the scholarship recipients of the Board for Advanced Studies (JAE) to further his education abroad. He spent time in Germany under the mentorship of Felix Klein: first in Berlin in 1911 and then in Göttingen in 1913. “The methodology and rigor he acquired during these trips led him to promote reforms in university curricula and attempt to implement a modern research agenda at the Mathematics Laboratory and Seminar,” says Martínez de Madariaga.
His best-known and most celebrated works, as well as the manuscript of his thesis, are also preserved by the Jorge Juan Library, within the Julio Rey Pastor Archive. “This is a collection of documents originating from both the Mathematics Laboratory and Seminar and the Jorge Juan Institute of Mathematics of the CSIC, forerunners of ICMAT,” Martínez de Madariaga explains. A digital version of this archive is also available on the CSIC’s SIMURG Portal.
“These documents, along with the complete collection of the Revista de la Sociedad Matemática Española, are a documentary testament to a period of scientific renewal in Spain,” says Martínez de Madariaga. To better understand the reform efforts of that time, the library has prepared interpretive keys to the archive: notes that explore the situation of mathematics during the transition from the 19th to the 20th century.
This is an automatic translation. Differences from the original Spanish text may exist.