Definition:Quaternion/Historical Note

Historical Note on Quaternions

The quaternions were famously conceived by William Rowan Hamilton, who was so proud of his flash of insight that he carved:

$i^2 = j^2 = k^2 = i j k = -1$

into the stone of Brougham Bridge on $16$th October $1843$.

However, it is also worth noting that Carl Friedrich Gauss independently came up with the same concept in $1819$.

Sources

• 1992: George F. Simmons: Calculus Gems ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {B}.26$: Extensions of the Complex Number System. Algebras, Quaternions, and Lagrange's Four Squares Theorem