HAMILTON, WILLIAM ROWAN

Second Essay on a general Method in Dynamics. Received October 29, 1834, - Read January 15, 1835. (2 Memoirs).

London, Richard Taylor, 1834-35. 4to. No wrappers as extracted from "Philosophical Transactions", 1835 - Part I. Titlepages to the volume present. (2),95-144. Both papers clean and fine.

First appearance of this groundbreaking paper in which Hamilton develops the whole of theoretical dynamics by the aid of one function only, his 'Characteristic' or 'Principal' Function.

He applies his method to a case of planetary motion, using a system of canonical elements" (Introduction, The Mathematical Paper of Sir William Rowan Hamilton, xiii). Hamilton then argues that the "tool of the characteristic function could also be applied to reformulate the fundamental laws of dynamics; thus the actual motion of mass point in a field of forces, e.g., is found to be governed by equations that are the analogues of those determining the propagation of the rays of light. Hamilton's optical-mechanical analogy, not only provided a new and more powerful formulation of classical mechanics but also, came to form the foundation of the Schrödinger scheme of quantum mechanics, e.g., wave mechanics. " (Mehra The Historical Development of Quantum Theory)

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