Bento de Jesus Caraça,

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

, GOL (18 April 1901 – 25 June 1948) was an influential

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

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, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and

statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...

. Caraça was also a member of the

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portugue ...

and so, he became one of the most famous personalities in the resistance against the

authoritarian regime Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic votin ...

led by António Oliveira Salazar. Caraça was born in

Vila Viçosa Vila Viçosa () is a town and a municipality in the District of Évora, Alentejo in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 8,319, in an area of 194.86 km². The municipal holiday is August 16. Parishes Administratively, the municipality is d ...

Évora District Évora District ( pt, Distrito de Évora ) is located in Alentejo, in southern Portugal. The district capital is the city of Évora. Municipalities The district is composed by 14 municipalities: * Alandroal * Arraiolos * Borba * Estremoz * Év ...

, in the south of Portugal. He was the son of two peasants, João António Caraça and Domingas da Conceição Espadinha. He lived his first years on the family's farm and he managed to learn how to read with another peasant, José Percheiro. The easiness of learning demonstrated by Caraça encouraged the spouse of the owner of the farm where he lived to take care of his education. In 1911, Caraça finished his first studies and left his hometown in order to study in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. After finishing high school with top grades, Caraça joined the Superior Institute of Economic and Financial Sciences ( pt, Instituto Superior de Ciências Económicas e Financeiras or ISCEF, later known as "ISEG"). On November 1, 1919, as a 2nd-year student, Caraça was nominated 2nd assistant by his teacher Mira Fernandes. He graduated in 1923. On December 13, 1924, he was nominated 1st assistant and, on October 14, 1927, he was appointed as a professor. On December 28, 1929, he was nominated cathedratic professor, teaching

algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary a ...

and

infinitesimal calculus Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithm ...

. Meanwhile, Caraça had participated in the foundation of the Portuguese Popular University, an institution created to give working-class people the chance to study. Caraça became a member of the Administration Council when he was still a student and in 1928 he became President of the University. He organised the University's library and several conferences about Mathematics, Art, History and other topics.

References

External links

Bento de Jesus Caraça Institute website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caraca, Bento Jesus 1901 births 1948 deaths People from Vila Viçosa Technical University of Lisbon alumni Portuguese anti-fascists Portuguese Communist Party politicians 20th-century Portuguese mathematicians 20th-century Portuguese economists Portuguese statisticians