J. J. Sylvester
| James Joseph Sylvester | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
3 September 1814 London, England |
| Died | 15 March 1897 (aged 82) London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions |
Johns Hopkins University University College London University of Virginia Royal Military Academy, Woolwich |
| Alma mater | St. John's College, Cambridge |
| Academic advisors |
John Hymers Augustus De Morgan |
| Doctoral students |
William Durfee George B. Halsted Washington Irving Stringham |
| Other notable students |
Isaac Todhunter William Roberts McDaniel Harry Fielding Reid Christine Ladd-Franklin |
| Known for | coining the term 'graph' Coining the term 'discriminant' Chebyshev–Sylvester constant Sylvester's sequence Sylvester's formula Sylvester's determinant theorem Sylvester matrix (resultant matrix) Sylvester–Gallai theorem Sylvester's law of inertia Sylver coinage Sylvester's criterion Sylvester domain |
| Influenced |
Morgan Crofton Christine Ladd-Franklin George Salmon |
| Notable awards |
Royal Medal (1861) Copley Medal (1880) De Morgan Medal (1887) |
James Joseph Sylvester FRS (3 September 1814 – 15 March 1897) was an English mathematician. He made fundamental contributions to matrix theory, invariant theory, number theory, partition theory, and combinatorics. He played a leadership role in American mathematics in the later half of the 19th century as a professor at the Johns Hopkins University and as founder of the American Journal of Mathematics. At his death, he was professor at Oxford.
Sylvester was born James Joseph in London, England. His father, Abraham Joseph, was a merchant. James adopted the surname Sylvester when his older brother did so upon emigration to the United States—a country which at that time required all immigrants to have a given name, a middle name, and a surname. At the age of 14, Sylvester was a student of Augustus De Morgan at the University of London. His family withdrew him from the University after he was accused of stabbing a fellow student with a knife. Subsequently, he attended the Liverpool Royal Institution.
Sylvester began his study of mathematics at St John's College, Cambridge in 1831, where his tutor was John Hymers. Although his studies were interrupted for almost two years due to a prolonged illness, he nevertheless ranked second in Cambridge's famous mathematical examination, the tripos, for which he sat in 1837. However, Sylvester was not issued a degree, because graduates at that time were required to state their acceptance of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England, and Sylvester could not do so because he was Jewish, the same reason given in 1843 for his being denied appointment as Professor of Mathematics at Columbia College (now University) in New York City . For the same reason, he was unable to compete for a Fellowship or obtain a Smith's prize. In 1838 Sylvester became professor of natural philosophy at University College London and in 1839 a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. In 1841, he was awarded a BA and an MA by Trinity College, Dublin. In the same year he moved to the United States to become a professor of mathematics at the University of Virginia, but left after less than four months following a violent encounter with two students he had disciplined. He moved to New York City and began friendships with the Harvard mathematician Benjamin Peirce (father of Charles Sanders Peirce) and the Princeton physicist Joseph Henry, but in November 1843, after his rejection by Columbia, he returned to England.
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