Famous Astronomers: The Great William Hamilton

William Hamilton was born at midnight, Aug. 4, 1805, in Dublin, Ireland, where his aunt and uncle, who chronicled Hamilton's growth through a series of letters written by his aunt to his mother, raised him.

 

By the time he was 15, Hamilton's journals indicate that he turned his attention to astronomy. He noted that he began reading the works of Newton, observed eclipses, occultation and similar phenomena. By age 16, Hamilton's journals indicate that he read about conic sections and pendulums. It was when reading "Mecanique Celeste" that Hamilton began to criticize an important part of Laplace's work relative to the demonstration of the parallelogram of forces.

 

As a student, there was no brighter or with more promise at the University of Dublin than Hamilton. In fact, the university employed him as a professor of astronomy before he even graduated. So profound was Hamilton's knowledge, that should there have been a vacancy in most other subject areas at the university, Hamilton would have been the likely person hired to fill that vacancy.

The main reason that Hamilton was appointed to such a premier position within the university at the age of 21 was due to his work and research on the theory of Systems of Rays. This profound work created a new branch of optics and led a few years later to the discovery of conical refraction. This discovery led to world renown as well as friendships with fellow astronomers such as Herschel and Robinson.

 

It may well be doubted whether there is a more beautiful chapter in the whole of mathematical philosophy than that of Hamilton's dynamical theory. It is disfigured by no tedious complexity of symbols; it does not condescend to any particular problems; it is an all-embracing theory, which gives an intellectual grasp of the most appropriate method for discovering the result of the application of force to matter. The paper is regarded today as one of the classics of dynamical literature.

Hamilton is chiefly associated with the discovery of a new form of math called calculus of the Quaternions. As this new form of math continued to dominate Hamilton's career as a scientist and mathematician, more and more philosophers began accepting his work.

 

So much was Hamilton's drive and determined state in researching calculus that he would work in stretches of 12 hours at a time. The dawn would frequently surprise him as he looked up to snuff his candles after a night of fascinating labor at original research.

 

It was this constant work that effected Hamilton's health. He died at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 2, 1865, at the age of 60, hours after attending Mass and receiving Holy Communion, as he felt the end was near. Hamilton was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery on September 7.

 

 

Ball, R.S. (2000).Avoid Great Astronomers. Retrieved March 14, 2008, from the Gutenburg Project Web site: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext00/grast11.txt.