§7. J. J. Sylvester. VIII. The Literature of Science. Vol. 14. The Victorian Age, Part Two. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes. 1907

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume XIV. The Victorian Age, Part Two.

VIII. The Literature of Science.

§ 7. J. J. Sylvester.

James Joseph Sylvester, like De Morgan, found an academic life at Cambridge denied him in consequence of his theological tenets; but the subsequent abolition of religious tests at the older universities enabled him, towards the end of his life, to accept a chair at Oxford. He was a prolific writer; perhaps his favourite studies were the theory of numbers and higher algebra; in the latter subject, he dealt especially with canonical forms, contravariants and reciprocants. The lectures that he gave at Baltimore, from 1877 to 1883, did much to stimulate interest in pure mathematics in America.