James Joseph Sylvester was one of the most colorful mathematicians of the Victorian age. His role in giving an impetus to the American mathematical community in the late 19th century provided a sense of national independence from European scholarship.

Sylvester was born on September 3, 1814 in London, the son of Abraham Joseph. He was the youngest son out of a total of nine children and received his early education at Jewish schools in Highgate and Islington. Sylvester entered St. John's College at Cambridge in 1831. His undergraduate career was interrupted by illness that kept him at home for several years. Finally, in 1837 he took the Tripos (the final mathematical examinations) and placed second. Ordinarily, a student in that situation would have proceeded to take his degree and to compete for the Smith's Prize. Since, however, Sylvester was Jewish, he could not subscribe to the ThirtyNine Articles of the Church of...