William Rowan Hamilton

Sir William Rowan Hamilton FRAS
Born	(1805-08-04)4 August 1805 Dublin, Ireland
Died	2 September 1865(1865-09-02) (aged 60) Dublin, Ireland
Known for	Introducing Hamiltonian mechanics (1833) Formulating Hamilton's principle (1834) Introducing quaternions (1843) Coining the term tensor (1846) Inventing icosian calculus (1856) Inventing the icosian game (1856)
Spouse	Helen Marie Bayly ​ (m. 1833)​
Children	3, including William
Relatives	4 sisters including Eliza Mary Hamilton
Awards	Cunningham Medal (1834, 1848) Royal Medal (1835)
Honours	Knight Bachelor (1835)
Academic background
Alma mater	Trinity College Dublin
Academic advisors	John Brinkley
Academic work
Discipline	Mathematics science
Sub-discipline	Astronomy physics
Institutions	Trinity College Dublin Dunsink Observatory
3rd Andrews Professor of Astronomy
In office 1827–1865
Preceded by	John Brinkley
Succeeded by	Franz Brünnow

Sir William Rowan Hamilton (4 August 1805 – 2 September 1865)^[1][2] was an Irish astronomer, mathematician, and physicist who made major contributions to abstract algebra, classical mechanics, and optics. His work is considered fundamental to modern theoretical physics, particularly his reformulation of Lagrangian mechanics. His career included the analysis of geometrical optics, Fourier analysis, and quaternions, the last of which made him one of the founders of modern linear algebra.^[3]

Hamilton was Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin. He was also the third director of Dunsink Observatory from 1827 to 1865. The Hamilton Institute at Maynooth University is named after him.