Desiderio Herrera Cabrera

Mathematician and surveyor. Cuban professor and writer who contributed to scientific historiography and Cuban education.

He was born in La Habana, Cuba. In 1806 he completed his primary studies at the school of Don Antonio Echezábal and his secondary studies in 1810. He distinguished himself in different branches of the sciences. In 1826 he graduated as a surveyor, and from then on he stood out in the field of mathematics.

As a professor, he directed, between 1815 and 1820, a primary school that provided free education to 60 children. In 1825 he prepared a Grammar textbook, and in 1827 one on Arithmetic for the Colegio de Jesús, which he directed between 1822 and 1825.

In 1826 he wrote the book Elementary Geometry and Plane Trigonometry for the Use of the Children of Cuba. He held the Chair of Dynamics and Astronomy at the Liceo in 1848.

A promoter of free education, he provided his services to the Education Section of the Real Sociedad Patriótica de La Habana. He founded the Imprenta Tormentaria, and collaborated in several newspapers; under the pseudonyms of Radio Vector and Tropical, as in the Diario de la Habana, Lucero and La Gaceta, among others. Referring to his educational work, José Antonio Saco, in 1863 highlighted the contribution of this dedicated teacher to the teaching projects of the Patriotic Society, emphasizing that "such generous conduct on the part of a poor man, a very poor man, despite being at that time one of the most knowledgeable mathematicians, deserved that the Patriotic Body assign him a small pension, so that he could teach twenty children."

The publication in 1937 of his work Lessons on Surveying, according to the practices of the island of Cuba, constitutes a valuable contribution to scientific historiography in Cuba, of which four editions were made. He also ventured into other subjects, on astronomy, in which he provided curious data and scientific observations about the comet visible in our country in 1843. This book, like Memoir on White Population in Vuelta Abajo (1845), was published in Paris. In 1847 his Memoir on Hurricanes in the Island of Cuba (1847) was translated into French and English. He also collaborated in the Dictionary of Provincial Voices, by Pichardo Moya.

He wrote a treatise on Practice of the Terrestrial and Celestial Globe. Many of his works remain unpublished, among which may be cited: Meteorology, Medical Topography and Surveying Vocabulary, which he wrote in 1826.

He died in La Habana on June 26, 1856.

Source: Eumed.net