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Reviews
By a combination of exacting scholarship and distinguished writing, Hankins has produced a book which is both an important record and a marvelous read.
An interesting, well-written biography of the great nineteenth-century mathematician.
Hankins has given [Hamilton] the detailed biography that he merits. The author integrates his discussions of Hamilton's poetic, metaphysical and mathematical facets to provide a balanced picture of a complex individual against the background of the religious, philosophical, political, and social movements of the time.
Thomas Hankins has given us much more than just a good biography of a leading scientific personality of the 19th century, although that it certainly is... Thorough in the scientific aspects of his book, the author also deals substantially with the philosophical, religious, and political events that bore so heavily on Hamilton's work and personal life.
[A] most welcome general biography of Hamilton... an interesting account of a fascinating life.
Hankins' biography is analytic... comprehensive, and ambitiously aimed at integrating all the facets of Hamilton's richly productive but troubled life... In the difficult genre of scientific biography, where good books are rare, Hankins's Hamilton is excellent.
Hankins's treatment of Hamilton's works is always clear and concise. His biography displays a mastery of the technical details of Hamilton's mathematics as well as an understanding of the origins of Hamilton's ideas... This biography is extraordinarily well written and a pleasure to read.
About
Book Details
Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x 9
Pages
496
ISBN
9780801869730
Illustration Description
20 halftones, 28 line drawings
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
I. Birth and Education
1. Early Years
2. Trinity College and Dunsink Observatory
3. Life at the Observatory
II. Ray Optics
4. The "Theory of Systems of Rays"
5
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
I. Birth and Education
1. Early Years
2. Trinity College and Dunsink Observatory
3. Life at the Observatory
II. Ray Optics
4. The "Theory of Systems of Rays"
5. Creating the "Theory of Systems of Rays"
6. Conical Refraction
III. Marriage
7. Philosophical Romance
8. Helen Bayly
IV. Light and Dynamics
9. Theories of Light
10. Optics at the British Association
11. The Luminiferous Aether
12. The Metaphysical Foundations of Mechanics
13. The General Method in Dynamics
14. The Fate of the Optical-Mechanical Analogy
V. Politics and Religion
15. Reform and Religious Turmoil
16. In and Out of the Oxford Movement
VI. "Algebra as the Science of Pure Time"
17. The Foundations of Algebra and the Coleridgean View of Science
18. "Algebra as the Science of Pure time"
19. The Kantian Content of the "Essay on Algebra as the Science of Pure Time"
20. The Equation of the Fifth Degree
VII. Quarternions
21. From Algebraic Couples to Quaternions
22. The Creation of Quarternions
23. The Fate of Quarternions
24. The Hodograph and the Icosian Calculus
VIII. Last Years
25. Catherine Disney Barlow
26. The End of a Career
27. Hamilton and Nineteenth-Century Science
Appendix: The Equations of Conjugation and Logarithms of Number Couples
Abbreviations Used in the Notes
Notes
Bibliographical Essay
Index
