Aurelio Ángel Baldor de la Vega (October 22, 1906,

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

– April 2, 1978,

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

) was a Cuban

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

, educator and lawyer. Baldor is the author of a

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

algebra Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...

textbook, titled ''Álgebra'', used throughout the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

-speaking world and published for the first time in 1941. He is also the author of the following two books, a) Baldor's Arithmetic and b) Baldor's Geometry of the Plane and the Space and Trigonometry. Baldor

He was the youngest child of Daniel Baldor and Gertrudis de la Vega. He was the founder and director of the Baldor School in the exclusive Vedado section of Havana. In its heyday, the school had 3,500 students and used 23 buses to provide transportation to its students. In 1959, with the arrival of

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

's communist regime, Aurelio Baldor and his family began experiencing some problems.

Raúl Castro Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz ( ; ; born 3 June 1931) is a Cuban retired politician and general who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the One-par ...

had intended to arrest Baldor, but

Camilo Cienfuegos Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán (; 6 February 1932 – 28 October 1959) was a Cuban revolutionary. One of the major figures of the Cuban Revolution, he was considered second only to Fidel Castro among the revolutionary leadership. The son of An ...

—one of Fidel Castro's own top commanders—prevented the arrest, as he highly admired and respected Baldor for his accomplishments as an educator. After the death of Camilo Cienfuegos approximately one month later in an airplane which disappeared over the sea, Baldor and his family left Cuba and were exiled in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

for a short time, and then they migrated to

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. Afterward, they moved on to

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(

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) and

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, where Baldor continued teaching at Saint Peter's College in

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

. He also taught daily classes in mathematics at the now defunct Stevens Academy, in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...

. He spent much time writing mathematical theorems and exercises. Once a tall and imposing man weighing 100 kg (220 lbs), Baldor slowly began losing weight as his health declined. He died from pulmonary

emphysema Emphysema is any air-filled enlargement in the body's tissues. Most commonly emphysema refers to the permanent enlargement of air spaces (alveoli) in the lungs, and is also known as pulmonary emphysema. Emphysema is a lower respiratory tract di ...

, FL, on April 2, 1978. His seven children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren still reside in Miami. Other family include Francisco Baldor, Maria Cristina Baldor and Aurelio Baldor's second cousin Teresita Baldor. Baldor's algebra textbook ''Álgebra'' (With Graphics and 6,523 exercises and answers) published by Compañía Cultural Editora y Distribuidora de Textos Americanos, S. A. continues being used to this day in secondary schools throughout

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

References

Cuban emigrants to the United States Saint Peter's University faculty 1906 births 20th-century Cuban mathematicians 1978 deaths {{mathematician-stub