Abstract
William Rowan Hamilton (1805–65) and George Boole (1815–64) never had any significant interaction with each other even though they shared many of the same mathematical interests and simultaneously corresponded with Augustus de Morgan. They also had much in common beyond mathematics, in particular in their philosophical views, and in certain personality traits that contributed significantly to their success.
Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank Dr Stuart Anderson for many discussions and suggestions for revision while this paper was in progress.