Mathematical ideas are constructed under political contexts. D’Ambrosio (2005) uses the term ‘co-opt’ to designate the « . . . strategy to organize a society and to legitimate a power structure ».

The power of scientific community is based on acceptance of the members on the authority (Weber, 1978) of committees that are established by such a specific community.

I decided to use the History of Mathematics as a way to support my thesis, as a methodology.

Therefore I decided to focus on a name, a British mathematician from 19 th century, Arthur Cayley.

I have no interest in valuing a certain historical period or a particular mathematician. I decided to study the 19 th century since it is a period not so far from our epoch, and at the same time enough far to guarantee Cayley’s name in the History of Mathematics.

I decided to look for mathematicians who did not earn their income as mathematicians. In principle, I could have focused on Arthur Cayley or Sylvester, but since Sylvester lived for a long time in the USA and it would have been difficult to have access to his archives, I decided to focus only
on Arthur Cayley.Mathematical historians believe that Cayley developed some of his best work when his income was not related to his research in Mathematics; it had been present in the community by means of publications. What is interesting is that although he did not have a direct connection with the Mathematics Community in terms of his income, he belonged to this community through his publications. In the following years, in 1863 to be precise, Cayley was appointed as Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.