Full Idea
An important episode in the acceptance of complex numbers was the development by Wessel, Argand, and Gauss, of a geometrical model of the numbers.
Gist of Idea
Complex numbers were only accepted when a geometrical model for them was found
Source
Philip Kitcher (The Nature of Mathematical Knowledge [1984], 07.5)
Book Reference
Kitcher,Philip: 'The Nature of Mathematical Knowledge' [OUP 1984], p.176
A Reaction
The model was in terms of vectors and rotation. New types of number are spurned until they can be shown to integrate into a range of mathematical practice, at which point mathematicians change the meaning of 'number' (without consulting us).