Sydney Margaret HAMILTON - a gutsy woman!
Here lies the body
Of
Sydney Margaret HAMILTON
Last surviving sister of
Sir William Rowan HAMILTON
Royal Astronomer of Ireland
And discoverer of the
Calculus of Quaternions
Born in Dublin, she fell asleep
in Christ in Auckland, N.Z.
3 March 1889
Aged 78
Auckland Star, Volume XX, Issue 53, 4 March 1889, Page 8
HAMILTON: On March 3rd at the residence of Mrs Robertson, top of Hobson Street, Sydney Margaret HAMILTON, third daughter of the late Archibald HAMILTON of 47 Lower Dominnick
Street, Dublin and only surviving sister of the Late Sir Wm Rowan HAMILTON Astronomer Royal and Royal Astronomer, Ireland. Aged 78 years. [3]
“Before William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865) had graduated from Trinity College Dublin, he was appointed in 1827 as Professor of Astronomy and Royal Astronomer of Ireland. He trained three of his many sisters to operate Dunsink Observatory for him, whilst he worked on his mathematics. His invention of quaternions in 1843 made him one of the most renowned mathematicians of the 19th century. His third sister Sydney Margaret Hamilton (1811-1889) administered the Observatory, did much of the observing and performed extensive computations to reduce the observational data to publishable form.
Sydney lived in Nicaragua from 1863 to 1874. Her scientific friends tried twice to arrange a Civil List Pension for her from the British Government, but their appeals were rejected first by Disraeli and then by Gladstone. Accordingly, Sydney sailed from Dublin in 1875 to Auckland, to earn her living at the age of 64 as Matron of the Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Auckland. To her surprise, New Zealand's elder statesman Sir George Grey (1812-1896) was eager to meet her as sister of the great Hamilton. Grey had intense interest in science, he was a personal friend of many scientists, and at the age of 63 he was studying quaternions. Grey's magnificent gifts to Auckland Public Library include many papers which Sydney presented to him, including manuscripts of William Rowan Hamilton and editions of two of his major books which are earlier than any listed in any of the biographies and bibliographies of Hamilton. Grey attended Sydney's funeral in 1889, when she was buried in Rosebank Road cemetery in Auckland, across the road from Avondale College. Archdeacon Robert Perceval Graves, author of the 4-volume biography of William Rowan Hamilton, later arranged for a tombstone to be erected on Sydney's grave.
In 1993, Marina View Primary School in Auckland inaugurated a Sydney Margaret Hamilton Prize in Mathematics. The pupils are taken to pay homage at the grave of Sydney Margaret Hamilton.” [1]
[I wonder if they still pay homage? Surely if so, then it may have been mentioned how neglected the grave is now and something may happen to reinstate it to it’s former glory. As mentioned on Lisa Truttman's blog Timespanner' "At present, her grave is sadly neglected. The grave itself has been engulfed by a wild tree allowed to grow right in the grave area itself, and the headstone is being crowded out by the trunk of the tree". That was on her visit in 2002 and subsequently posted it on her blog 2008.
– Sarndra]
A case from the Auckland Asylum with Sydney Hamilton as a witness. On another note, Thomas Aicken also mentioned, is buried not far from Sydney.
paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=s...
Sir William Rowan HAMILTON – a very interesting read
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rowan_Hamilton
He died 2 September 1865 & is buried in St Jerome Cemetery in Dublin.
“If ever there was a child prodigy, Hamilton was it. He grew up with his uncle who was a bit of an eccentric; for instance, he tied a string around young William's toe at night, ran it through a hole in the wall into his own bedroom, and then early each morning he would tug on the string to wake him and start him on his studies. By the age of 12, William was fluent in 10 languages”...” [2]
REFERENCES:
[1]
www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/hasn/no32/memrls32.htm
[2]
www.cobalt.chem.ucalgary.ca/ziegler/educmat/chm386/rudime...
[3]
Sydney Margaret HAMILTON - a gutsy woman!
Here lies the body
Of
Sydney Margaret HAMILTON
Last surviving sister of
Sir William Rowan HAMILTON
Royal Astronomer of Ireland
And discoverer of the
Calculus of Quaternions
Born in Dublin, she fell asleep
in Christ in Auckland, N.Z.
3 March 1889
Aged 78
Auckland Star, Volume XX, Issue 53, 4 March 1889, Page 8
HAMILTON: On March 3rd at the residence of Mrs Robertson, top of Hobson Street, Sydney Margaret HAMILTON, third daughter of the late Archibald HAMILTON of 47 Lower Dominnick
Street, Dublin and only surviving sister of the Late Sir Wm Rowan HAMILTON Astronomer Royal and Royal Astronomer, Ireland. Aged 78 years. [3]
“Before William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865) had graduated from Trinity College Dublin, he was appointed in 1827 as Professor of Astronomy and Royal Astronomer of Ireland. He trained three of his many sisters to operate Dunsink Observatory for him, whilst he worked on his mathematics. His invention of quaternions in 1843 made him one of the most renowned mathematicians of the 19th century. His third sister Sydney Margaret Hamilton (1811-1889) administered the Observatory, did much of the observing and performed extensive computations to reduce the observational data to publishable form.
Sydney lived in Nicaragua from 1863 to 1874. Her scientific friends tried twice to arrange a Civil List Pension for her from the British Government, but their appeals were rejected first by Disraeli and then by Gladstone. Accordingly, Sydney sailed from Dublin in 1875 to Auckland, to earn her living at the age of 64 as Matron of the Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Auckland. To her surprise, New Zealand's elder statesman Sir George Grey (1812-1896) was eager to meet her as sister of the great Hamilton. Grey had intense interest in science, he was a personal friend of many scientists, and at the age of 63 he was studying quaternions. Grey's magnificent gifts to Auckland Public Library include many papers which Sydney presented to him, including manuscripts of William Rowan Hamilton and editions of two of his major books which are earlier than any listed in any of the biographies and bibliographies of Hamilton. Grey attended Sydney's funeral in 1889, when she was buried in Rosebank Road cemetery in Auckland, across the road from Avondale College. Archdeacon Robert Perceval Graves, author of the 4-volume biography of William Rowan Hamilton, later arranged for a tombstone to be erected on Sydney's grave.
In 1993, Marina View Primary School in Auckland inaugurated a Sydney Margaret Hamilton Prize in Mathematics. The pupils are taken to pay homage at the grave of Sydney Margaret Hamilton.” [1]
[I wonder if they still pay homage? Surely if so, then it may have been mentioned how neglected the grave is now and something may happen to reinstate it to it’s former glory. As mentioned on Lisa Truttman's blog Timespanner' "At present, her grave is sadly neglected. The grave itself has been engulfed by a wild tree allowed to grow right in the grave area itself, and the headstone is being crowded out by the trunk of the tree". That was on her visit in 2002 and subsequently posted it on her blog 2008.
– Sarndra]
A case from the Auckland Asylum with Sydney Hamilton as a witness. On another note, Thomas Aicken also mentioned, is buried not far from Sydney.
paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=s...
Sir William Rowan HAMILTON – a very interesting read
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rowan_Hamilton
He died 2 September 1865 & is buried in St Jerome Cemetery in Dublin.
“If ever there was a child prodigy, Hamilton was it. He grew up with his uncle who was a bit of an eccentric; for instance, he tied a string around young William's toe at night, ran it through a hole in the wall into his own bedroom, and then early each morning he would tug on the string to wake him and start him on his studies. By the age of 12, William was fluent in 10 languages”...” [2]
REFERENCES:
[1]
www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/hasn/no32/memrls32.htm
[2]
www.cobalt.chem.ucalgary.ca/ziegler/educmat/chm386/rudime...
[3]