Caleb Gattegno

Egyptian mathematician and educator (1911–1988) Dr. Caleb Gattegno Caleb Gattegno (1911–1988) was an educator, psychologist, and mathematician. He is considered one of the most influential and prolific mathematics educators of the twentieth century. He is best known for introducing new approaches to teaching and learning mathematics (Visible & Tangible Math), foreign languages (The Silent Way) and reading (Words in Color). Gattegno also developed pedagogical materials for each of these approaches, and was the author of more than 120 books and hundreds of articles largely on the topics of education and human development. Background Gattegno was Jewish and was born November 11, 1911, in Alexandria, Egypt. His parents, Menachem Gattegno, a Spanish merchant, and his wife, Bchora, had nine children. Because of poverty, Gattegno and his siblings had to work starting from a young age. The future mathematician had no formal education until he started to learn on his own at the age of 14. He took external examinations when he was 20 years old and obtained a teaching license in physics and chemistry from the University of Marseille in Cairo. He moved to England, where he became involved