Sir William Rowan Hamilton was a famous mathematician and the inventor of quaternions. He was born at midnight on August 3/4, 1805 in Dublin, Ireland. He was considered a born genius. Only at the age of 9 he knew 13 languages, and read Newton's Principia at the young age of 15. Hamilton was one of the most innovative mathematicians of his time. He always stressed on beginning with original investigations, rather than following the previous equations.
Life of William Rowan Hamilton
Hamilton was the son of a solicitor - Archibald Hamilton, however William Hamilton was adopted by his uncle Rev. James Hamilton. Hamilton was prominent because of his extra ordinary skills at a very early age. He learned many languages without effort. Hamilton started learning Latin and Greek when he was only 5 years of age he was fluent in Hebrew, when he was just 7 years old. His uncle Rev. James Hamilton was a linguist and guided him in every possible way to learn 15 languages at the young age of 13 years.
He not only mastered the classical and modern European languages, but he was also fluent in Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Malay and Hindustani. His pastime was reading Persian and Arabic books. His talents in the field of natural sciences emerged since childhood. He read a Latin copy of Euclid at the age of 10, when he first started Geometry. Hamilton's started studying Mathematics at the age of 13 and started his
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lessons with Clairaut's Algebra in French.
At the age of 18, Hamilton took admission in Trinity College. He joined a school of mathematicians which led him to the Trinity College. He was interested in classics and science., while in the college. In 1827 he was appointed as a Professor of Astronomy in the Trinity College. This position also carried the honorary title of Royal Astronomer of Ireland along with the privilege of residing at the Dunsink Observatory. Hamilton was still an undergraduate. In 1835 he was honored with knighthood. He published his first book, dealing with optics. He eventually developed a new theory of dynamics which later proved its importance in the quantum mechanics of the 20th century. He invented quaternions, which was an algebraic approach to three-dimensional geometry, which later was used as the basics of modern algebra.
The last few years of his life, the dedicated mathematician William Rowan Hamilton completely focused on the works of "Elements of Quaternions" which he completed only few days before he died. He died on 2nd of September 1865 from a severe gout attack immediately after hearing the news that he had been selected as the first foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.
The close relation between William Rowan Hamilton and Elements of Quaternions is still a prominent chapter in the history of Mathematics. Sir William Rowan Hamilton is recognized as one of Ireland's famous scientists and his inventions and works are more useful and relevant to modern day mathematics and science.
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