"Time is said to have only one dimension, and space to have three dimensions. ... The mathematical quaternion partakes of both these elements; in technical language it may be said to be 'time plus space', or 'space plus time': and in this sense it has, or at least involves a reference to, four dimensions. And how the One of Time, of Space the Three, Might in the Chain of Symbols girdled be."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from IrelandAnglicansPhysicists from IrelandAstronomers from IrelandMathematicians from Ireland
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Quoted in Robert Percival Graves' "Life of Sir William Rowan Hamilton" (3 volumes, 1882, 1885, 1889))
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Rowan_Hamilton
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
William Rowan Hamilton
Sir William Rowan Hamilton (4 August 1805 – 2 September 1865) was an Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician, who made important contributions to classical mechanics, optics, and algebra. His studies of mechanical and optical systems led him to discover new mathematical concepts and techniques. His greatest contribution is perhaps the reformulation of Newtonian mechanics, now called Hamiltonian mechanics. This work has proven central to the modern study of classical field theories such as
13 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by William Rowan Hamilton →
Related Quotes
"The Study of Algebra may be pursued in three very different schools, the Practical, the Philological, or the Theoreti…"
"To admire is, to me, questionless, the highest pleasure of life."
"Hamilton was not only an Irishman, but Irish: and this with curious oppositions of character. He was a non-combatant:…"
"The difficulties which so many have felt in the doctrine of Negative and Imaginary Quantities in Algebra forced thems…"
"It may not sound very consistent with any such professed humility on my part, if I say to you that, after having serv…"
"… an undercurrent of thought was going on in my mind which gave at last a result, whereof it is not too much to say t…"
"It still remained to be seen whether the laws of motion, as dependent on moving forces, could also be consistently tr…"
"To the scientists of 1850, Hamilton's principle was the realization of a dream. ...from the time of Galileo scientist…"
"The minimum principle that unified the knowledge of light, gravitation, and electricity of Hamilton's time no longer …"
"He used to carry on, long trains of algebraic and arithmetical calculations in his mind, during which he was unconsci…"