The Central Bank yesterday launched a new €10 collectors' coin to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of William Rowan Hamilton, one of the world's greatest mathematicians.
The coin, the third silver collector euro piece to be issued by the bank, costs €32 and will go on sale on May 23rd.
Only 30,000 pieces have been produced and demand is expected to be high across Europe. Both of the previous two commemorative coins sold out.
"2005 is the Unesco Year of Science, and in Ireland it is known as the Hamilton Year 2005 - Celebrating Irish Science," said John Hurley, the bank's governor, at the coin's launch at Trinity College yesterday. "The bank is delighted to be part of these celebrations."
The new coin, which features a a decorative circular pattern formed from symbols, was designed by Michael Guilfoyle, who last year won a national design competition.
It pays tribute to Hamilton's use of algebraic equations that revolutionised mathematical physics. On October 16th, 1843, Dublin-born Hamilton created a formula known as quaternions.
"It is very apt that this beautiful commemorative coin is being launched here in Trinity - Hamilton's alma matter and the place where he made his discovery of the physical phenomenon of conical refraction," said Dr John Hegarty, provost of Trinity College.
"Hamilton is one of Trinity's most famous alumni and the country's pre-eminent scientists."
In 2003, the Central Bank issued a coin to mark the Special Olympics and last year to mark the accession of 10 new countries into Europe. The Hamilton coin can be used as legal tender.
