{{Short description|Colombian mathematician (1927–2014)}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Yu Takeuchi | image = Yu Takeuchi.jpg | birth_date = March 16, 1927 | birth_place = Tokyo, Empire of Japan | death_date = December 25, 2014 (aged 87) | death_place = {{flag|Colombia}} Bogotá, Colombia | signature = | website = | spouse = Shizu Takeuchi | children = Yuri Takeuchi Caori Takeuchi Noboru Takeuchi | other names = | alma mater = | occupation = Physicist, Mathematician | years active = | employer = | known = | works = | parents = | relatives = | size = | description = | residence = | prizes = | notes = }}
{{nihongo|'''Yu Takeuchi'''|竹内 悠|Takeuchi Yū}} (16 March 1927, Tokyo – 25 December 2014, Bogotá) was a Colombian nationalized Japanese physicist and mathematician, teacher and promoter of mathematics in Colombia.
== Biography == Takeuchi studied theoretical physics at the Imperial University of Tokyo (now University of Tokyo) and was a professor at the Ibaraki University. He arrived in Colombia through a cultural exchange program sponsored by the National University of Colombia and the Japanese government in 1959, and he would go on to teach at the university until 1989.<ref>{{cite web |title=Insigne professor of mathematics Yu Takeuchi has died, aged 87 |url=http://www.eltiempo.com/estilo-de-vida/educacion/fallecio-yu-takeuchi/15024176 |accessdate=12 February 2016 |publisher=El Tiempo}}</ref> Along with five other Japanese professors, Takeuchi arrived in Colombia, entering through Buenaventura, without knowing how to speak Spanish. The hiring process was arranged by the Japanese embassy. His selection was made from a pool of 30 teachers, as Ramón García Piment indicated in an interview with UN Radio.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
Although Takeuchi graduated as a physicist due to family influence, his interest was to learn and teach mathematics. He taught courses on vector analysis, calculus, and sequences, with the latter being his main interest.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Master of Mathematics in Colombia |url=http://www.mineducacion.gov.co/observatorio/1722/article-242328.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913073145/http://www.mineducacion.gov.co/observatorio/1722/article-242328.html |archivedate=13 September 2014 |accessdate=12 February 2016 |publisher=UN Periódico (National University of Colombia) via Observatory of Media of the Ministry of National Education of Colombia}}</ref> He is known for being the founder of the magazine ''Matemáticas: Enseñanza Universitaria'' and was part of the first class of the master's degree in mathematics at the National University of Colombia in 1972.<ref>{{cite web |title=Farewell to a legend |url=http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/actualidad/adios-una-leyenda-articulo-535098 |accessdate=12 February 2016 |publisher=El Espectador}}</ref>
According to Ignacio Mantilla, a former student of Yu Takeuchi and former rector of the National University of Colombia, in the event commemorating 100 years of relations between Colombia and Japan in 2008, Takeuchi was recognized as the most influential Japanese figure in Colombia.<ref>{{cite web |author=Unradio. Produced by Ramón García Piment and Claudia Patricia Romero |date=1 April 2014 |title=Pioneers of Knowledge: Yu Takeuchi Collection |url=http://unradio.unal.edu.co/nc/detalle/cat/pioneros-del-saber/article/coleccion-yu-takeuchi.html }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Since 2016, the Takeuchi family and the Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical, and Natural Sciences have awarded the Yu Takeuchi Prize<ref>{{cite web |title=Yu Takeuchi Prize |url=https://accefyn.com/wp/premios/ |accessdate=10 February 2018 |publisher=Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical, and Natural Sciences}}</ref> in honor and memory of him.
== Educator == thumb|Card as professor of the Faculty of Sciences of the National University of Colombia in the year 1959. Since he started working as a teacher in Colombia, Takeuchi became very aware of the backwardness and lack of updating of mathematics in the country and the need to train teachers at all levels of education. Therefore, he also dedicated himself to traveling throughout the national territory, disseminating Modern Mathematics through seminars, workshops, and collaborations of all kinds.<ref>{{cite web|title=Conoce el Archivo Yu Takeuchi| website=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0eFBdIw87I|language=es-ES|accessdate=2022-03-30}}</ref>
== Printing press == By the 1960s, many students at the Faculty of Sciences of the National University of Colombia did not have the economic resources to acquire textbooks, few of which were in Spanish. Takeuchi knew of this difficulty, so he had a printing press in the garage of his house, where with the collaboration of his wife and children, he produced various hand-made and low-cost texts that were easily accessible to the university community.<ref>{{cite web|title=Los Cuadernos de Takeuchi - #LaHistoriaDetrásDeLasCosas| website=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMBKUYm_NiI|language=es-ES|accessdate=2022-03-30}}</ref> According to the professor, his greatest desire was to transmit mathematical knowledge at all costs, which Colombia lacked in those years.
Iván Castro Chadid, a close colleague of Takeuchi, remembers:<ref>{{cite web |title=YU TAKEUCHI – Sociedad Colombiana de Matemáticas |url=https://scm.org.co/semblanzas/yu-takeuchi/ |accessdate=2022-03-30 |language=es}}</ref> <blockquote>Actually, this was what he did with his publications as he himself stated: "I wrote texts for everyone, seeking the popularization of mathematics." Usually, these books were made up of 60 paragraphs, so that each paragraph corresponds to a one-hour lesson, adapted to the teaching of a subject over a whole semester. The criterion that guided him, according to his own words, was the following: "Today, when time seems to be getting shorter and research fields are becoming ever larger, practical books that are economically within everyone's reach, of good academic level, and with topics selected with the future in mind, that truly help the student, are necessary. I present texts that meet these conditions and needs."</blockquote>
== Recognitions == thumb|Medal of the Order of San Carlos (Colombia) and Medal of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (Japan), which belonged to Professor Yu Takeuchi. They are currently held at the Historical Central Archive of the National University of Colombia. Among the most important distinctions received by Professor Takeuchi are the following:<ref>{{cite web|title=Comunidad de la U.N. lamenta fallecimiento de profesor Yu Takeuchi|url=http://agenciadenoticias.unal.edu.co/detalle/article/comunidad-de-la-un-lamenta-fallecimiento-de-profesor-yu-takeuchi.html#.VJ2VknMJgZk.twitter|publisher=Unimedios, Agencia de Noticias UN|accessdate=February 18, 2016|archive-date=February 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160225182324/http://agenciadenoticias.unal.edu.co/detalle/article/comunidad-de-la-un-lamenta-fallecimiento-de-profesor-yu-takeuchi.html#.VJ2VknMJgZk.twitter|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Emeritus Professor of the National University of Colombia in 1979 * Honorary Professor of the Javeriana University in 1985 * Honorary Professor of the National University of Colombia in 1995 * Honorary Professor of the Universidad Popular del Cesar in 1996 In 1989 Takeuchi won the {{lang|es|Premio Nacional de Matemáticas}} of the Colombian Mathematical Society.<ref name=premioNM>{{citation|url=https://scm.org.co/premio-nacional-de-matematicas/|title=Premio Nacional de Matemáticas|publisher=Colombian Mathematical Society|language=es|website=scm.org.co|access-date=3 April 2024}}</ref> In 2008, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of San Carlos and the Medal of the Order of the Sacred Treasure by Colombia and Japan respectively, for his achievements in mathematical education.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.colombia.emb-japan.go.jp/ESP/cooperacion/documentos/Cooperacion%20Japon%20Colombia.pdf|title=Cooperación de Japón en Colombia|author=Embajada del Japón en Colombia}}</ref> In 2010, he became a Colombian national.<ref>{{cite news|title=Presidente Uribe destacó como muestra de confianza en Colombia la nacionalización de 24 extranjeros|url=http://historico.presidencia.gov.co/sp/2010/julio/13/19132010.html|date=July 13, 2010|accessdate=June 26, 2018|newspaper=Secretaría de Prensa de la Presidencia de la República de Colombia}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Takeuchi, Yu}} Category:1927 births Category:2014 deaths Category:20th-century Colombian mathematicians Category:20th-century Japanese mathematicians Category:University of Tokyo alumni Category:Colombian physicists Category:20th-century Japanese physicists Category:Academic staff of the National University of Colombia Category:Academic staff of Ibaraki University Category:People from Tokyo Category:Immigrants to Colombia Category:Mathematicians from Tokyo