Sir William Rowan Hamilton: life, achievements, stature in physics

Abstract

Against the background of the development of physics, and in particular of mechanics, over the centuries since Galileo and Newton, we describe the life and work of William Rowan Hamilton in the 19th century. The depth of his ideas which brought together the understanding of ray optics and classical mechanics, and the remarkable ways in which his work paved the way to the construction of quantum mechanics in the 20th century, are emphasized.