William Rowan Hamilton

Sir William Rowan Hamilton (August 4, 1805 – September 2, 1865) was an Irish mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. Hamilton's discovery of quaternions is his best known investigation. Hamilton also contributed to the development of optics, dynamics, and algebra. Hamilton's research was later significant for the development of quantum mechanics. Dr. John Brinkley, bishop of Cloyne, is said to have remarked in 1823 of Hamilton at the age of eighteen: ?This young man, I do not say will be, but is, the first mathematician of his age.?

Quotations

• "Time is said to have only one dimension, and space to have three dimensions. ... The mathematical quaternion partakes of both these elements; in technical language it may be said to be "time plus space", or "space plus time": and in this sense it has, or at least involves a reference to, four dimensions. And how the One of Time, of Space the Three, Might in the Chain of Symbols girdled be." — William Rowan Hamilton (Quoted in Robert Percival Graves' "Life of Sir William Rowan Hamilton" (3 vols., 1882, 1885, 1889))
• "He used to carry on, long trains of algebraic and arithmetical calculations in his mind, during which he was unconscious of the earthly necessity of eating; we used to bring in a ?snack? and leave it in his study, but a brief nod of recognition of the intrusion of the chop or cutlet was often the only result, and his thoughts went on soaring upwards." — William Edwin Hamilton (his elder son)