Great Astronomers: William Rowan Hamilton

Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805–1865) was an Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who made important contributions to mechanics, optics, and algebra. As a teenager, he mastered parts of Newton's Principia and studied Laplace's celestial mechanics treatise. When barely 22, Hamilton became a professor of astronomy at University of Dublin, however he was more interested in theoretical rather than practical astronomy. His studies of mechanical and optical systems led him to discover new mathematical concepts and techniques.