Archimedes |
287-212 BC |
Archimedes was the son of an astronomer. He was in high favour with King Hieron of Syracuse, and was rumoured to be related to him.
Archimedes was credited with creating aids in the defense of Syracuse against the seige by the Romans. Such aids included catapults, poles for dropping heavy weights on enemy ships, and cranes to hoist enemy ships from the water. He is quoted with saying, "Give me a place to stand on and I will move the earth."
Archimedes is said to be capable of strong mental concentration. He was known to be oblivious to his surroundings if he was in deep thought on a problem. The most famous story of this involved King Hieron's crown.
King Hieron's crown feared his gold crown had been made from some silver instead of all gold, so he asked Archimedes to look into it. One day, during a bath, Archimedes hit upon the solution by a discovery of the first law of hydrostatics. He jumped from the bath, and ran naked through the streets shouting, "Eureka! Eureka!" (I have found it!)
Archimedes performed a lot of geometrical studies. He also is credited with some of the early development of some methods for integral calculus.
Some of his works include:
Sites About Archimedes |
Description |
| Archimedes | A detailed biography of Archimedes' life taken from "A Short Account of the History of Mathematics" (4th Edition, 1908) by W.W. Rouse Ball. |
| Free Concise Encyclopedia Article | A short description of Archimedes' life. |
| Encyclopedia.Com | Another short description of Archimedes' life. |
| Archimedes Constant | A look at pi and some other things. |