William Rowan Hamilton

Archibald Hamilton, a Dublin solicitor, fathered nine children, including William Rowan, born 4 August 1805 at 29 Dominick Street. Young William showed an appetite for learning that outgrew ordinary schooling, moving at three to his uncle James in Trim, where he swallowed languages and numbers alike. That street child became Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin and third director of Dunsink Observatory, shaping mechanics, optics and algebra until his death in 1865.