Abstract
In 1968, Hans Freudenthal launched the journal Educational Studies in Mathematics. This paper describes the events leading to the foundation of this journal. It turns out that his wife, Suus Freudenthal, deserves more credit for her husband’s interest and achievements in mathematics education. The couple was interested in education from a social democratic perspective. The events leading to the foundation of the journal show that lack of success for Dutch national educational reforms, combined with problems noted by his colleagues abroad on their respective reforms, triggered Hans Freudenthal to embark on this enterprise, and contributed to its success.
Highlights
In 1968, Hans Freudenthal launched the journal Educational Studies in Mathematics
In that first issue of Educational Studies in Mathematics, Hans Freudenthal published the notes of his opening address of the 1967 ICMI colloquium in Utrecht: Why to teach mathematics so as to be useful
In 1967, Hans Freudenthal (1905–1990) launched the journal Educational Studies in Mathematics, with its first issues appearing in 1968. This was an act of rebellion, selfconsciously plotted by Freudenthal, who was unhappy with the speed of change within mathematics teaching in secondary education
Summary
Around 1900, mathematics was becoming an international business. Several national mathematical societies, mostly founded in the second half of the nineteenth century, started exchanging journals. In 1950, the International Mathematical Union (IMU) was founded. It has been suggested that the union was in a coma from 1933 until 1950 (Letho, 1998) Did this organization really continue the work of the pre-war UMI? It did, but in many respects, the IMU was a completely new organization. This may be illustrated by its language, which had become English, and by its political ties. The IMU conference, organized in 1954 in Amsterdam, for example, was politically charged: Mathematicians were rebuilding international relationships with their colleagues, they were offering advice to their respective governments. This difficulty made the IMU very cautious in developing its policy regarding mathematics education
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