James Joseph Sylvester

1814 - 1897

Click the picture above
to see three larger pictures

J J Sylvester did important work on matrix theory. He discovered the discriminant of a cubic equation and first used the name 'discriminant' for equations of higher order.
Full MacTutor biography [Version for printing]
List of References (22 books/articles)

Some Quotations (14)

Mathematicians born in the same country

Show birthplace location

Additional Material in MacTutor

  1. A comment from Thomas Hirst's diary
  2. Obituary: The Times
  3. Obituary: Scotsman

Honours awarded to James Joseph Sylvester
(Click below for those honoured in this way)
Fellow of the Royal Society1839
Royal Society Royal Medal1861
LMS President1866 - 1868
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh1874
Royal Society Copley Medal1880
Savilian Geometry Professor1883
LMS De Morgan Medal1887
Lunar featuresCrater Sylvester

Other Web sites
  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
  2. NNDB
  3. Amsterdam (Some details of linkages)
  1. A Ranicki (Some quotations and other links)
  2. Mathematical Genealogy Project
 Previous  (Chronologically)  Next  Main Index
 Previous  (Alphabetically)  Next  Biographies index
JOC/EFR © August 2005

The URL of this page is:
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Sylvester.html