By Camille Garcia, 9th Grade

The Dominican Republic is a country that has stood out in cultural and touristic aspects, and shines internationally because of its artists, but most of the time, when we try to search our mind for Dominicans known in the academic world, we come out empty. The reality is that here in the country it is very difficult to see cases of mathematicians or scientists who have done things that require international recognition. However, Enmanuel Jose García is like an oasis in the middle of a desert. We could also call him Newton 2.0, since he managed to generalize a Newton formula. Emmanuel García is a civil engineer and math teacher at Colegio Bilingüe New Horizons, and our school is very proud to have a professor who has achieved an international reach with his work and can serve as an inspiration and example for students to follow in his footsteps and create an impact in the country within mathematics. After all, we have to be the change we want to see in the world, and if we want to raise the position of our country in mathematics, and not continue letting other countries overshadow us intellectually, examples like Emmanuel García must be followed.

Unfortunately, in Latin America there are not many people who stand out in mathematics, much less in a subject like the one that Professor Emmanuel based on. Geometric contributions can become vastly complicated, and they can take a lot of time and effort. Professor García was recognized as the first Latin American to work with Archimedean circles. What García did was demonstrate additional circles of the Arquemedean arbelos. In an interview with Diario Libre he expressed the following: “I have discovered some trigonometric identities that have helped me find an alternative demonstration of the Bretschneider Formula, discovered nearly 200 years ago by the German mathematician, Carl Anton Bretschneider. With the necessary adaptations made, my identities can also be used to prove the Formula of Brahmagupta and the Formula of Heron.”

“In the case of the triangle, it seems that almost all the metric relationships associated with the triangle derive from a particular case of my identities. But are my identities really new? I have been contacting expert mathematicians on the subject for almost three months and they all tell me that they have never seen them”. As we can see, it is really a very significant contribution, which might seem almost impossible, because it is one thing to be good at mathematics and do mathematics, and another thing is to create mathematics. This is something that Professor Emmanuel always mentions in math classes, that it is useless to stand out at a mathematical level and not take advantage of that to make our own discoveries, since it is not the same to spend your life studying the discoveries of others. When we have the opportunity to discover things on our own, when you apply yourself to mathematics, what happened to the teacher can happen to you, too. He started out doing one thing and what came out of it was much better. Upon making his discovery, he published it on a page where the vast majority of expert geometers on the subject are found and they have been amazed, especially Martin Josefsson who expressed that he had never seen such an approach. Being a great pride for the country, since a Dominican received international recognition for his work.

But you may be wondering why he is specifically called “Newton 2.0”, if his discoveries were based on Pythagoras and Archimedes. Well there is a reason for this as these were not the only discoveries he made. One of his most recent works was the overcoming of a Newton formula. Yes, Isaac Newton, who is known as the inventor of calculus and the father of physics. Emmanuel Jose García, stated that he managed to overcome Newton’s formula, considering that if this had been discovered before, it would be in every book and article related to it. The most impressive thing is that nobody had realized that the formula could be generalized, in almost three centuries. 315 years have passed since its discovery and it is impressive to know that after so much time, a Dominican has achieved this. In 1707 this formula was published and it really is not that what Newton did is wrong, but García managed to overcome that version that was only valid for a triangle and he made his formula also usable for a quadrilateral. He started working on this project during the pandemic, also generalizing other formulas that are hardly known.

It is really admirable to see all that Professor Emmanuel García has achieved in such a short time. His passion for mathematics is really what drives him to achieve this because someone disinterested would not really achieve something of this complexity. García said that in the catalog of names of people who have made contributions, his name is the only Latin name there is. This is unfortunate, because if we think about it for a moment, it cannot be that there is only one person with the ability to contribute to mathematics in Latin America. Being the first in the country is one thing, but being the first in Latin America is impressive, considering that so many years have passed since the publication of the formula and that no one had realized that it could be generalized. García has received many international awards for this. International universities have used his approaches such as the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and the University of Brasilia, and his work is also mentioned in the Brazilian thesis.

In a short time, Emmanuel García has received a lot of international support and it is impressive that he has not yet received much support at the national level, since the authorities must be aware of the impact that this means for the country. The country has never stood out like this in mathematics. His contributions to mathematics inspires those Dominicans who are interested in making their own discoveries. In math classes, the teacher always tells us about his discoveries and what he has achieved, and we hope that New Horizons School can leave more young kids who are interested in making a difference in the country within the mathematical field. We hope that this is not the last case in the country, and that soon we can move up in the Student Assessment (PISA), since in mathematics we are in the 70th place. One person has managed to create awareness and surely many but they will be able to create a change within Dominican society and mathematics.