Between São Paulo and Paris: the Vector calculus of the engineer Theodoro Ramos

Abstract In 1930, the engineer Theodoro Ramos published a book on vector calculus through the French publisher Albert Blanchard. The context of is publication, the publishing house where it was printed, the market for books of this kind in France, and the appearance of this topic in the history of calculus are discussed. Some of the contents and material aspects of several works of a similar nature published in the same period are compared with a view to bringing to light the innovations and consistencies of the book in question vis-à-vis this bibliographic corpus. Alongside its intrinsically mathematical aspects, the sometimes conflicting representations of the book by specialists and students in its trajectory between São Paulo and Europe are observed.