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227

William Rowan Hamilton

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD
William Rowan Hamilton

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Auction Date:2010 Nov 10 @ 19:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (1805-1865), who made important contributions to classical mechanics, optics, and algebra. His greatest contribution is perhaps the reformulation of Newtonian mechanics, now called Hamiltonian mechanics. DS, filled out and signed by Hamilton, one page, 7.25 x 8, no date. Hamilton provides biographical information to Dodd’s Knightage. After writing out his full name, Hamilton answers eight questions including: “Profession: Andrews Professor of Astronomy in Trinity College Dublin,” “Residence: Observatory of Trinity College Dublin,” and “When married and to whose daughter: On the 9th of April 1833 by the Very Rev Dean Head to Helen Maria, daughter of Rev. Henry Bayly.” In very good condition, with paper loss along bottom edge, intersecting folds, scattered creases and wrinkles, small strip affixed to reverse bottom edge, and trimmed edges. Accompanied by two related pieces: a third-person ALS, written by Hamilton, forwarding the material to Dodd’s Knightage, and reading, in part: “Sir William Rowan Hamilton has the honour to return to Mr. Dodd answers to the principal of his queries, but apprehends that they may be late for the purpose of Mr. Dodd’s forthcoming work … Should the answers be still in time Sir W. H. would look over his diploma and send Mr. Dodd a list of the chief societies of which he is a member.”; and a manuscript document in which the bestowal of knighthood of Hamilton is confirmed, initialed at the conclusion in another hand “WRH.”

Born in Dublin, Hamilton become one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, regarded even early in his career as a successor to Isaac Newton. Knighted in 1835 for his scientific contributions, he was chosen for recognition in the prestigious 1841 publication Dodd’s Knightage. Here, he carefully details personal information, including identifying his wife, Helen Maria. It was while strolling with his wife in 1843 that Hamilton was struck by a formula for Quaternions, a non-commutative extension of complex numbers. Delightful personal insight for a notable publication by one of the greatest scientific minds of the 19th century.
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