Professor Anthony O'Farrell and Dr Fiacre Ó Cairbre

Dr Fiacre Ó Cairbre, Department of Mathematics, and Professor Anthony O’Farrell, Professor Emeritus

Professor O'Farrell founded the annual Hamilton walk in 1990 and Dr Ó Cairbre has now run it for many years.

The walk celebrates the day, October 16, and the route taken by William Rowan Hamilton one of the world’s most outstanding mathematicians, who discovered quaternions in a stroke of inspiration while walking along the banks of the Royal Canal in Dublin. His discovery changed the future of mathematics. Hamilton scratched his formulas for the quaternions into the wall at Broome Bridge, Cabra.

Maths Week Ireland is funded through the Science Foundation Ireland Discover Programme, the Department of Education and Skills, Matrix (the Northern Ireland Science Industry Panel), ESB and Xilinx, and co-ordinated by Calmast, Waterford Institute of Technology’s Stem Outreach Centre.

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