James Joseph Sylvester facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
James Joseph Sylvester
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| Born |
James Joseph
3 September 1814 London, England
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| Died | 15 March 1897 (aged 82) London, England
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| Resting place | Balls Pond Road Cemetery |
| Alma mater | St. John's College, Cambridge |
| Known for |
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| Awards | Royal Medal (1861) Copley Medal (1880) De Morgan Medal (1887) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Johns Hopkins University University College London University of Virginia Royal Military Academy, Woolwich University of Oxford |
| 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 |
| Influenced | Morgan Crofton Christine Ladd-Franklin George Salmon |
James Joseph Sylvester (born September 3, 1814 – died March 15, 1897) was a brilliant English mathematician. He made very important discoveries in many areas of math. These included matrix theory, number theory, and combinatorics. He also helped lead mathematics in America. He was a professor at Johns Hopkins University and started the American Journal of Mathematics. Later in his life, he taught at Oxford University.
Contents
Early Life and Education
James Joseph was born in London on September 3, 1814. His father, Abraham Joseph, was a merchant. James later took the last name Sylvester. His older brother had done this when he moved to the United States.
When James was 14, he studied with Augustus De Morgan at the University of London. He had to leave the university after an incident with another student. After that, he attended the Liverpool Royal Institution.
Studying Mathematics
Sylvester began studying math at St John's College, Cambridge in 1831. His teacher there was John Hymers. He got sick for almost two years, which stopped his studies. But he still did very well in Cambridge's famous math exam, the tripos, in 1837.
However, Sylvester did not get his degree. At that time, graduates had to agree to the rules of the Church of England. Sylvester could not do this because he was Jewish. For the same reason, he could not try for a special scholarship called a Fellowship. He also could not win the Smith's prize.
Teaching Career
In 1838, Sylvester became a professor of natural philosophy at University College London. A year later, in 1839, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. In 1841, he finally received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Trinity College Dublin.
Moving to America
In 1841, Sylvester moved to the United States. He became a math professor at the University of Virginia. But he left in less than four months. An incident happened where a student was disrespectful during his lecture. Sylvester reacted strongly, and the student collapsed. Sylvester thought he had seriously hurt him, but the student was okay. Sylvester resigned because he felt the university did not handle the situation well.
He then moved to New York City. There, he became friends with important mathematicians like Benjamin Peirce. However, he left in 1843. He was not given a professor job at Columbia College (now University) because he was Jewish. So, he returned to England.
Back in England
Back in England, Sylvester worked for an insurance company starting in 1844. He created good ways to figure out insurance risks. This job required him to study law. While studying law, he met another British mathematician, Arthur Cayley. They worked together for a long time. They made important discoveries in matrix theory and other areas of math.
Sylvester did not get a university teaching job again until 1855. He became a math professor at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He retired from there in 1869 because he reached the age of 55. The academy at first did not want to pay him his full retirement money. Sylvester fought for it publicly, even writing letters to The Times newspaper. He eventually won.
Love for Poetry
One of Sylvester's lifelong interests was poetry. He read and translated poems from French, German, Italian, Latin and Greek. Many of his math papers even included quotes from classical poems. After he retired early, Sylvester wrote a book called The Laws of Verse. In this book, he tried to create rules for how poetry should sound.
In 1872, he finally received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Cambridge. He had been denied these degrees earlier because he was Jewish.
Return to America
In 1876, Sylvester traveled across the Atlantic Ocean again. He became the first professor of mathematics at the new Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He asked for a very good salary, which was agreed upon.
In 1877, he was chosen to be a member of the American Philosophical Society. In 1878, he started the American Journal of Mathematics. This was a very important math magazine in the United States at that time.
Final Years at Oxford
In 1883, Sylvester returned to England for the last time. He took a special teaching position called the Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University. He held this job until he died. Even though he was still the professor, the university appointed another professor to help him in 1892. He also helped manage Abingdon School.
James Joseph Sylvester passed away in London on March 15, 1897. He is buried in Balls Pond Road Cemetery in London.
Legacy and Contributions
Sylvester created many mathematical terms that we still use today. For example, he invented the words "matrix" (in 1850), "graph" (meaning a network), and "discriminant". He also came up with the term "totient" for Euler's totient function.
In a field of math called discrete geometry, he is remembered for Sylvester's problem. In matrix theory, he discovered Sylvester's determinant identity. All his scientific work fills four large books.
In 1880, the Royal Society of London gave Sylvester the Copley Medal. This is their highest award for scientific achievements. In 1901, after his death, they created the Sylvester Medal in his memory. This medal helps encourage new math research.
A part of a student dormitory at Johns Hopkins University is named Sylvester House in his honor. Several teaching positions there are also named after him.
See also
In Spanish: James Joseph Sylvester para niños
- Catalecticant
- Covariance and contravariance of vectors
- Evectant
- Inclusion–exclusion principle
- Invariant of a binary form
- Sylvester's construction
- Sylvester pentahedron
- Sylvester's problem
- Clock and shift matrices
- Umbral calculus
- List of things named after James Joseph Sylvester
