Broom Bridge

Plaque on Broom Bridge

Broom Bridge, also known as Brougham Bridge, is a small bridge along Broombridge road which crosses the Royal Canal in Dublin, Ireland. Broom bridge is named after William Broom, one of the directors of the Royal Canal company. Broom bridge is somewhat famous for being the location where Sir William Rowan Hamilton first wrote down the fundamental formula for quaternions on October 16, 1843, which is to this day commemorated by a stone plaque on the northwest corner of the underside of the bridge. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (1536 × 1024 pixel, file size: 203 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Author - wisher Photo of Brougham Bridge in Central Dublin. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (1536 × 1024 pixel, file size: 203 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Author - wisher Photo of Brougham Bridge in Central Dublin. ... A plaque on Broom Bridge in Dublin, commemorating Hamiltons invention of Quaternions My father took the picture and agrees to transfer the copyright to me. ... A plaque on Broom Bridge in Dublin, commemorating Hamiltons invention of Quaternions My father took the picture and agrees to transfer the copyright to me. ... volcanic rock. ... Dublin city centre at night WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: , Statistics Province: Leinster County: Dáil Éireann: Dublin Central, Dublin North Central, Dublin North East, Dublin North West, Dublin South Central, Dublin South East European Parliament: Dublin Dialling Code: +353 1 Postal District(s): D1-24, D6W Area: 114. ... Sir William Rowan Hamilton (August 4, 1805 – September 2, 1865) was an Irish mathematician, physicist, and astronomer who made important contributions to the development of optics, dynamics, and algebra. ... In mathematics, the quaternions are a non-commutative extension of the complex numbers. ... is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1843 (MDCCCXLIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (1536 × 1024 pixel, file size: 203 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Author - wisher Photo of the plaque on Brougham Bridge in Central Dublin. ...

The text on the plaque reads:

Here as he walked by

on the 16th of October 1843

Sir William Rowan Hamilton

in a flash of genius discovered

the fundamental formula for

quaternion multiplication

i² = j² = k² = ijk = −1

& cut it on a stone of this bridge.

Given the historical importance of the bridge with respect to mathematics, mathematicians the world over have been known to make a pilgrimage of sorts to the site.

External links, references, and resources

• John C. Baez, Directions, photos and discussion, at University of California at Riverside
• Broom Bridge in the Structurae database
• Irelands Royal Canal, Ruth Delany, ISBN 0 946640 92 0

Coordinates: 53.373° N 6.3° W John Carlos Baez (b. ... The University of California, Riverside is a public, coeducational university situated in Riverside, California beside Box Springs Mountain. ... Structurae is an on-line database containing works of structural and civil engineering of all kinds such as Bridges, High-rise buildings, towers, dams, etc. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...