The creation of a formal program in mathematics at the Colombian National University at the beginnings of the 50’s of the last century is due to the Italian mathematician Carlo Federici and the Hungarian mathematician John Horváth. The latter is responsible for the visits of Solomon Lefschetz, John von Neumann, Laurent Schwartz, Jean Dieudonné, Serge Bischler, among others, in Colombia. The first alumni of this program were mostly self-taught, but they took the duty to teach modern mathematics the next generations to come. In this work we present their contribution to this enterprise at university and high and primary school. The first publications done by Colombians on this matter appeared in the Revista de Matemáticas Elementales (founded in 1952 and initially published by the Colombian National University and University of the Andes). Beginning in 1965 some documents written by Colombian mathematicians were published and used as university textbooks. Their contents are analyzed in our work. On the other hand, modern mathematics was introduced at primary and high-school using textbooks prepared by the Research Institute of Pedagogical National University. Also in this Institute guides for primary and high-school teachers were prepared and used in normal schools whose mission is to form elementary school teachers. Finally, as a byproduct of this effort, a collection named Colección Matemática Actualizada was published. This collection is examined in detail.

This presentation is based on work co-authored with Víctor S. Albis González.

References
Clara H. Sánchez B. and Víctor Albis G. Historia de la enseñanza de las matemáticas en Colombia. De Mutis al siglo XXI. Quipu, Vo. 14, No.1, 2012, 109-158.
Clara H. Sánchez, and Víctor Albis. La introducción de la teoría de conjuntos y la matemática en Colombia. Primera parte: el aporte de los extranjeros. Mathesis, III, No.4, 2009, 265-293.