Citizendia

James Joseph Sylvester

BornSeptember 3, 1814(1814-09-03)
London, England
DiedMarch 15, 1897 (aged 82)
Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
NationalityEnglish
Fieldsmathematics
InstitutionsJohns Hopkins University
Known formatrix theory

James Joseph Sylvester (September 3, 1814 London – March 15, 1897 Oxford) was an English mathematician. Events 36 BC - In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompeius Year 1814 ( MDCCCXIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Events 44 BC - Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Year 1897 ( MDCCCXCVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Oxford is currently bidding for the 2010 Wikimania Conference Oxford () is a city, and the County town of Oxfordshire, History See also History of Oxfordshire The county of Oxfordshire was formed in the early years of the 10th century and is broadly situated in the England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and Matrix theory is a branch of Mathematics which focuses on the study of matrices. Events 36 BC - In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompeius Year 1814 ( MDCCCXIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Events 44 BC - Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Year 1897 ( MDCCCXCVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Oxford is currently bidding for the 2010 Wikimania Conference Oxford () is a city, and the County town of Oxfordshire, England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of Mathematics. He made fundamental contributions to matrix theory, invariant theory, number theory, partition theory and combinatorics. Matrix theory is a branch of Mathematics which focuses on the study of matrices. Invariant theory is a branch of Abstract algebra that studies actions of groups on algebraic varieties from the point of view of their effect Number theory is the branch of Pure mathematics concerned with the properties of Numbers in general and Integers in particular as well as the wider classes In Number theory, a partition of a positive Integer n is a way of writing n as a Sum of positive integers Combinatorics is a branch of Pure mathematics concerning the study of discrete (and usually finite) objects 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. American Journal of Mathematics is a Bimonthly mathematics journal published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, founded in 1878 by James Joseph Sylvester At his death, he was professor at Oxford. The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the

Contents

Biography

Sylvester was born "James Joseph" into a Jewish family, he brought up in the Jewish faith and remained an observant Jew for the rest of his life [1]. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ He adopted the surname "Sylvester" when his older brother did so. His brother was emigrating to the United States, a country which at that time required all immigrants to have a given name, a middle name, and a surname. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the At the age of 14, Sylvester started attending the University of London, where he was a student of Augustus De Morgan. The University of London is a university based primarily in London, England, UK. Augustus De Morgan ( 27 June, 1806 &ndash 18 March, 1871) was a British Mathematician and Logician. He was soon expelled however, for stealing a knife from the refectory, with the purpose of attacking a fellow student. Trapeza redirects here for the prehistoric Greek settlement see Trapeza Crete. Following this, he attended the Liverpool Royal Institution. The Liverpool Royal Institution was a learned society set up in 1814 for "the Promotion of Literature Science and the Arts" Though he excelled academically, Sylvester was tormented by his fellow students on account of his Jewish origins. Because of the abuse he received, he ran away, taking a boat to Dublin. Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. While there, he was recognized on the street by Richard Keatinge who was Judge of the Prerogative Court of Ireland, and whose wife was a cousin of Sylvester. Keatinge arranged for the boy's return to Liverpool.

Sylvester began his study of mathematics at St John's College, Cambridge in 1831. Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and St John's College, an institution known formally as The Master Fellows and Scholars of the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge is a The city of Cambridge (ˈkeɪmbrɪdʒ is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England Year 1831 ( MDCCCXXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a His studies were interrupted for almost two years due to a prolonged illness. He was ranked second in Cambridge's famous mathematical examination, the tripos, which he eventually sat in 1837. The University of Cambridge, England, divides the different kinds of honours Bachelor's degree by Tripos ( a word which has an obscure Yet he did not obtain 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 declined to do so. The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion were established in 1563 and are the historic defining statements of Anglican doctrine in relation to the controversies of the The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican For the same reason, he was unable to compete for a Smith's prize. The Smith's Prize was the name of each of two prizes awarded annually awarded to two research students in Theoretical Physics, mathematics and Applied mathematics In 1838 Sylvester became professor of natural philosophy at University College London UCL. In 1841, he was awarded a BA and an MA by Trinity College, Dublin. For the game see 1841 (board game. Year 1841 ( MDCCCXLI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link Trinity College Dublin ( TCD; Irish Coláiste na Tríonóide Baile Átha Cliath; Latin: Collegium Sacrosanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae In the same year he moved to the United States to become a professor at the University of Virginia for about six months, and returned to England in November 1843. The University of Virginia (also called UVa, UVA, Mr Jefferson's University, or The University) is a highly selective public research England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland

On his return to England he studied law, alongside fellow British lawyer/mathematician Arthur Cayley, with whom he made significant contributions to matrix theory while working as an actuary. Arthur Cayley ( August 16 1821 - January 26 1895) was a British Mathematician. Matrix theory is a branch of Mathematics which focuses on the study of matrices. An actuary is a business professional who deals with the financial impact of risk and uncertainty One of his private pupils was Florence Nightingale. Florence Nightingale, OM, RRC (in her own pronunciation ˈflɒɾəns ˈnaɪtɪŋgeɪl 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910 who came to be known as "The He did not obtain a position teaching university mathematics until 1855, when he was appointed professor of mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from which he retired in 1869, because the compulsory retirement age was 55. Year 1855 ( MDCCCLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year The Royal Military Academy ( RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army Military academy for the training of Commissioned The Woolwich academy initially refused to pay Sylvester his full pension, and only relented after a prolonged public controversy, during which Sylvester took his case to the letters page of The Times. The Times is a daily national Newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register.

One of Sylvester's lifelong passions was for poetry; he read and translated works from the original French, German, Italian, Latin and Greek, and many of his mathematical papers contain illustrative quotes from classical poetry. In 1870, following his early retirement, Sylvester published a book entitled The Laws of Verse in which he attempted to codify a set of laws for prosody in poetry.

In 1877 Sylvester again crossed the Atlantic Ocean to become the inaugural professor of mathematics at the new Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Year 1877 ( MDCCCLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common His salary was $5,000 (quite generous for the time), which he demanded be paid in gold. Gold (ˈɡoʊld is a Chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and Atomic number 79 In 1878 he founded the American Journal of Mathematics. Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common American Journal of Mathematics is a Bimonthly mathematics journal published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, founded in 1878 by James Joseph Sylvester The only other mathematical journal in the U.S. at that time was the Analyst, which eventually became the Annals of Mathematics. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Annals of Mathematics (ISSN 0003-486X abbreviated as Ann of Math

In 1883, he returned to England to take up the Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University. Year 1883 ( MDCCCLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Savilian Chair of Geometry is the position of Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford in England. The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the He held this chair until his death, although in 1892 the University appointed a deputy professor to the same chair. Year 1892 ( MDCCCXCII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year

Sylvester invented a great number of mathematical terms such as discriminant. In Algebra, the discriminant of a Polynomial with real or complex Coefficients is a certain expression in the coefficients of the He has given a name to Euler's totient function φ(n). In Number theory, the totient \varphi(n of a Positive integer n is defined to be the number of positive integers less than or equal to His collected scientific work fills four volumes. In 1880, the Royal Society of London awarded Sylvester the Copley Medal, its highest award for scientific achievement; in 1901, it instituted the Sylvester Medal in his memory, to encourage mathematical research. Year 1880 ( MDCCCLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 The Copley Medal is a scientific award for distinguished achievement in any field of Science established by the Royal Society of London in 1731 Year 1901 ( MCMI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting The Sylvester Medal is a bronze medal awarded every three years by the Royal Society for the encouragement of mathematical research

Sylvester House, a portion of an undergraduate dormitory at Johns Hopkins, is named in his honour. ==

References

  1. ^ James Joseph Sylvester. Retrieved on 2007-12-15. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 533 - Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of

Bibliography

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See also

External links

The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive is an award-winning website maintained by John J The Mathematics Genealogy Project is a web-based Database that gives an Academic genealogy based on Dissertation supervision relations The University of Michigan Ann Arbor ( U of M, U-M, UM or simply Michigan) is a top-ranked Coeducational public research
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