James Joseph Sylvester (1814 - 1897): "An outsider breaking into the established societal norms"

Karen Parshall talks about the nineteenth-century mathematician James Joseph Sylvester. We learn about:

Sylvester's family background and Jewish heritage (at time 0:27)

being a Jew in Victorian Britain (1:21)

his mathematical education (1:57)

further impact of his Jewishness (2:37)

a Jew at Cambridge (3:13)

his first publications (4:24)

progressing his career, and facing obstacles (5:25)

end of his first stay in the USA (6:51)

back in London: a job as actuary, and research progress (7:21)

"creating his own mathematical community" (8:41)

his friendship with Cayley (8:58)

Invariant Theory (9:41)

taking a degree in law (10:19)

back to Academia as Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich (10:41)

defining the "professional mathematician" (11:11)

Sylvester at Woolwich (11:42)

enforced retirement, establishing an international reputation (12:30)

flourishing back in America as a research professor (13:37)

return to England and the Savilian Chair at Oxford (15:46)

More information, worksheets and other resources for the undergraduate mathematics curriculum: www.beingamathematician.org