Back in the 1890s, the pages of Nature featured a feisty exchange on the relative merits of vector analysis (championed by J.W. Gibbs and O. Heaviside) vs. quaterions (P.G. Tait). They knew how to have a proper scientific dispute back then.
Here is the opening to one of Tait's salvos.
May 6, 2025 17:23Interestingly, while vector analysis (along with stuff like Euler angles) won out for the better part of a century, quaternions have been making a comeback because some of the things they do better have moved from "obscure niche interests" to stuff like computer graphics and 3D navigation.
"It is to Prof. Tait's devotion to his master that we should look for the reason of the little progress made in the last 20 years..."
He was fighting a Heavyweight
