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University College London

Sylvester Letters


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0103 MS ADD 221

Held at: University College London

Title: Sylvester Letters

Date(s): 1865-1896

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 10 letters

Name of creator(s): Sylvester | James Joseph | 1814-1897 | Professor of Geometry

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Sylvester was born on 3 September 1814. He was educated in London, at the Royal Institution Liverpool, and at St John's College Cambridge. He held the Chair of Natural Philosophy at University College London from 1837 to 1841. In 1841 he went to the USA, being appointed to the Chair of Mathematics at the University of Virginia. He later worked at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. From 1883 he was Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University. Sylvester discovered a Theory of Reciprocants, which he made known at Oxford in 1885. He invented kinematical instruments, such as the Plagiograph and Geometrical Fan. He was the founder and first Editor of the American Journal of Mathematics. He won many medals for his work. Sylvester also published a very large number of mathematical memoirs in English and foreign journals. He died on 15 March 1897.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Eight letters from Sylvester to his niece, Contessa Edith Gigliucci, 1865-1896, and two letters to Count Mario Gigliucci, 1896.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Open.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Normal copyright restrictions apply.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Collection level description.

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented by Mrs Marion Rawson, whose cousin Contessa Bona Gigliucci is the daughter of Contessa Edith Gigliucci, in November 1971 and January 1972.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Date(s) of descriptions: 1999, revised Aug 2001


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Mathematicians | Scientists | Scientific personnel | Personnel | People by occupation | People

Personal names
Gigliucci | Edith | fl 1865-1896 | née | wife of Comte Mario Gigliucci x Moseley | Edith
Gigliucci | Mario | fl 1896 | Count
Sylvester | James Joseph | 1814-1897 | mathematician

Corporate names

Places