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Hamilton, William
Sir
William Rowan Hamilton
Irish Inventor - Quaternions
- Sir Hamilton learned 13 languages by
the time he was 13! He was a child prodigy turned
mathematician and physicist when, at age 15, he began
reading the work of Isaac Newton.
- One of his biggest contributions to
science and math included the development of "Hamiltonian
Mechanics" which is still used today in determining
satellite tracks. The Hamiltonian operator in physics and
Hamiltonian cycles in graph theory are both named for him.
- His other major contribution was the
invention of quaternions, which he discovered in 1843.
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