Another colleague has left us ….

Born Havana 10 September 1921

Died Havana 10 November 2011

Having had the privilege of counting him among our friends and collaborators, it is our sad duty to inform our readers of the passing in the month of November in Havana (La Habana) of Luis Davidson San Juan.

From left at the 1988 IMO in Canberra, Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, Luis Davidson, University of Canberra Vice Chancellor Professor Roger Scott and WFNMC President Peter O’Halloran at the Closing Ceremony of the International Mathematical Olympiad, Australia, July, 1988

At the Universidad de La Habana he studied Physical and Mathematical Sciences, and in 1944 obtained his PhD. In 1950 he was part of the Cuban delegation at the International Congress of Mathematicians organized at Harvard University beginning his work on the international scene.

Beginning in 1963 Luis Davidson was among the organizers of mathematics competitions in Cuba; he first participated in the IMO as leader of the Cuban delegation in 1971. Luis was a member of the IMO Site Committee and designated its Vice President in 1988.

With José Fernández, the Cuban Minister of Educación, at the IV Iberoamerican Mathematics Olympiad, held in Cuba in 1989.

The OEI (Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos para la Ciencia, la Culture y la Educación) awarded Luis the distinction of Maestro Founder of Mathematics Competitions in Ibero-America.

Luis was present at the First Congress of WFNMC in 1990, in Waterloo, and in 1992 at ICME-7 in Quebec, he received the Paul Erdös Prize from WFNMC.

Luis Davidson in Canberra with WFNMC founder Peter O'Halloran.

Luis Davidson San Juan was the author of many books; his last, published in 2010, Equations and mathematicians, is part of a series he had planned to write and tells the story of mathematicians through the problems they posed and solved.

He will be missed.

María Falk de Losada
Bogotá
November 2011