Having detected an important defect in one of Laplace's demonstrations, he was induced by a friend to write out his remarks, that they might be shown to Dr John Brinkley (1763-1835), afterwards bishop of Cloyne, but who was then the first royal astronomer for Ireland, and an accomplished mathematician.
Brinkley seems at once to have perceived the vast talents of young Hamilton, and to have encouraged him in the kindest manner.
This was his appointment to the Andrews professorship of astronomy in the university of Dublin, vacated by Dr Brinkley in 1827.
The germ of his first great discovery was contained in one of those early papers which in 1823 he communicated to Dr Brinkley, by whom, under the title of " Caustics," it was presented in 1824 to the Royal Irish Academy.
Christie Brinkley's quiet separation from her husband of 10 years, Peter Cook, exploded into media melodrama when rumors emerged that Cook had an affair with a then 18-year-old employee of his architecture firm.