William Rowan Hamilton

William Rowan Hamilton (August 4, 1805 – September 2, 1865) was an Irish mathematician, physicist and astronomer. He made important contributions to the development of optics, dynamics, mathematics, geometry and algebra. His discovery of quaternions is the most famous work. His work was important in the development of quantum mechanics. Hamilton's talent was discovered very early by the astronomer John Brinkley. In 1823, when Hamilton was eighteen, John Brinkley said: "I don't say he would be but now he is the leading mathematician of his age". Hamilton was the first to introduce the term "vector", "association law".[1]

William Hamilton
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William Rowan Hamilton
BornAugust 4, 1805
DiedSeptember 2, 1865
NationalityIrish, Scottish origin
Alma materTrinity College Dublin
Known forQuaternion & Hamiltonian
Scientific career

William Rowan Hamilton Media

Reference

  1. "Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (V)". Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2019.