Broom Bridge
Broom Bridge Droichead Broome | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 53°22′23″N 6°18′00″W / 53.373°N 6.3°W |
Crosses | Royal Canal |
Locale | Dublin |
Location | |
Broom Bridge (
It is famous for being the location where
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
& cut it on a stone of this bridge.
Given the historical importance of the bridge with respect to mathematics, mathematicians from all over the world have been known to take part in the annual commemorative walk from Dunsink Observatory to the site. Attendees have included Nobel Prize winners Murray Gell-Mann, Steven Weinberg and Frank Wilczek, and mathematicians Sir Andrew Wiles, Sir Roger Penrose and Ingrid Daubechies.[3] The 16 October is sometimes referred to as Broomsday (in reference to Broome Bridge) and as a nod to the literary commemorations on 16 June (Bloomsday in honour of James Joyce).
In Literature
- Broom Bridge, named as Brougham Bridge, along with Hamilton's eureka moment, are mentioned in the Thomas Pynchon novel Against the Day. [4]
References
- ^ "Droichead Broome/Broome Bridge". Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
- ^ Baez, John (2004). "Brougham Bridge". John Baez’s Stuff. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
- ^ "Hamilton Walk". Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Maynooth University. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
- ^ Pynchon, Thomas (2006). Against the Day.
Further reading
- Delany, Ruth; Bath, Ian (2010). Ireland's Royal Canal 1789-2009. Dublin: Lilliput Press. OCLC 503633679.