Content area
Full text
Abstract. Following the death of James Joseph Sylvester in 1897, contributions were collected in order to mark his life and work by a suitable memorial. This initiative resulted in the Sylvester Medal, which is awarded triennially by the Royal Society for the encouragement of research into pure mathematics. Ironically the main advocate for initiating this medal was not a fellow mathematician but the chemist and naturalist Raphael Meldola. Religion, not mathematics, provided the link between Meldola and Sylvester; they were among the very few Jewish Fellows of the Royal Society. This paper focuses primarily on the politics of the Anglo-Jewish community and why it, together with a number of scientists and mathematicians, supported Meldola in creating the Sylvester Medal.
At the Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Society held on the afternoon of St Andrew's Day 1901, Henri Poincare was awarded the Sylvester Medal, for his 'many contributions to mathematical science'. He received the medal cast in bronze, together with a monetary award. Later that day, at the well-attended Anniversary Dinner, the President, Sir William Huggins, reflected on the state of the society, mourned the passing of several Fellows and praised the achievements of Poincare and the other eminent scientists who had received medals. Poincare responded with a gracious speech in French in which he dilated on Sylvester's 'poetic spirit' and his 'firm grasp and concise exposition' of mathematical issues. This praise of James Joseph Sylvester, who had died in 1897, elicited an enthusiastic cheer from the assembled Fellows and other dignitaries. 'In Sylvester', Poincare concluded, 'were combined a great heart and a powerful intellect'.1
Although similar scenes have been enacted at every Anniversary Meeting and Dinner, this was the first time that the Sylvester Medal had been awarded. For several of the Fellows present, the presentation to Poincare marked the culmination of a four-year-long campaign to found this new medal specifically for achievements in mathematics. However, the main mover was not a mathematician, but a professor of chemistry. Raphael Meldola, who taught at Finsbury Technical College, had written primarily on chemistry and natural history and was an avid Darwinian.2 Why, then, should Meldola have been so active in founding a prestigious award in a scientific area in which he possessed little interest and no...