Episode 1 of 2
Walk along the Royal Canal
- When
- 16 October 1843
- Where
- Royal Canal
Hamilton walked along the Royal Canal in Dublin with his wife on 16 October 1843, leading to the insight that quaternion multiplication is non-commutative.
Hamilton was walking along the Royal Canal in Dublin when he realized the solution to the problem of multiplying triples. This walk resulted in the deduction that quaternions are non-commutative, a key feature distinguishing them from complex numbers. The event occurred on 16 October 1843, marking the discovery of quaternion algebra.
Sources
- William Rowan Hamilton Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29
- History of quaternions Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-28
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.