James Joseph Sylvester

views updated

James Joseph Sylvester

1814-1897

English mathematician who laid the basis for the fields of combinatorics and abstract algebra. He was the first Jew to achieve eminence in the English mathematical community, although he spent a number of years in the United States and created the first research mathematics department there at Johns Hopkins University. He was influential in the coining of mathematical terminology in the new fields that he had helped to create.

More From encyclopedia.com

About this article

James Joseph Sylvester

Updated About encyclopedia.com content Print Article

You Might Also Like