Sylvester, James Joseph (1814–1897)
English mathematician and lawyer who, in 1850, first used the term "matrix"
in mathematics and gave it its present meaning of a rectangular array of
numbers from which determinants may
be formed. Together with Arthur Cayley, he
founded the theory of invariants. Hot-headed and vociferous
in opposition of anti-Semitism, he was thrown out of the University of London
for threatening another student with a table-knife. Later he studied at
Cambridge, emerging as Second Wrangler but without a degree (though in 1871
he earned an MA) because, as a Jew, he refused to accept the articles of
the Church of England. After a spell working as an actuary and a barrister,
and also taking private pupils (one of whom was Florence Nightingale), he
met Cayley, with whom he forged a life-long friendship and collaboration,
and returned to mathematics. He became professor of mathematics at the Royal
Military Academy at Woolwich (1855–70) and at the newly established
Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore (1877–83), founding the American
Journal of Mathematics, before accepting the Savilian chair at Oxford
(1883–94). Remarkably, especially in the field of mathematics, he
produced an extraordinary flood of ideas well into his old age. At 82, he
worked out the theory of compound partitions. He also published on the roots
of quintic equations and on number
theory. His partnership with Cayley worked perfectly, since Cayley supplied
the rigor which the brilliantly creative Sylvester lacked.
Related category
• MATHEMATICIANS
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