![]() ![]() As a young man he had furthered his education in the city of Alexandria in Egypt, where Alexander the Great's successor, Ptolemy Lagides, had built the world's greatest library. Writing about another astronomer's estimates of the sun's size, he says: "Pheidias, my father, said the sun was twelve times bigger".Īrchimedes spent most of his life in Syracuse. We believe his father was an astronomer because Archimedes says so in his work The Sand Reckoner. He must have felt the influence particularly strongly, flowing from his astronomer father. He produced logical arguments for his idea.Īrchimedes was born into this Greek scientific culture. With no practical purpose in mind, Democritus proposed that all matter was made of tiny particles called atoms and that these atoms could not be split into smaller particles. They studied geometry for its logic and its beauty. They investigated the world for the sheer pleasure of adding to their knowledge. Today, we would describe the Ancient Greeks' work as blue skies scientific research. The ancient Greeks were the first people to do real science and recognize science as a discipline to pursue for its own sake.Īlthough other cultures had made scientific discoveries, these were made for thoroughly practical reasons, such as how to build stronger temples or predict when the heavens would be right for planting crops or getting married. Inspired what we now believe are myths including a mirror system to burn attacking ships using the sun's rays, and jumping from his bath, then running naked through the streets of Syracuse shouting "Eureka" meaning "I've found it" after realizing how to prove whether the king's gold crown had silver in it. He may have done this by understanding the mathematics of projectile trajectory.īecame famous throughout the ancient world for his brilliant mind - so famous that we cannot be sure that everything he is said to have done is true. Invented war machines such as a highly accurate catapult that stopped the Romans conquering Syracuse for years. Was the first person to apply lessons from physics - such as the law of the lever - to solve problems in pure mathematics. Was one of the world's first mathematical physicists, applying his advanced mathematics to the physical world. Leonardo da Vinci was lucky enough to see some of the hand-copied works of Archimedes before they were eventually printed. Archimedes' surviving works (tragically, many have been lost) finally made it into print in 1544. Infuriated mathematicians who tried to replicate his discoveries 18 centuries later - they could not understand how Archimedes had achieved his results.ĭirectly inspired Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton to investigate the mathematics of motion. Invented the Archimedean Screw to pull water out of the ground - the device is still used around the world. Proved that to multiply numbers written as exponents, the exponents should be added together. Showed how exponents could be used to write bigger numbers than had ever been thought of before. This value was still in use in the late 20th century, until electronic calculators finally laid it to rest.ĭiscovered and mathematically proved the formulas for the volume and surface area of a sphere. ![]() His upper limit for pi was the fraction 22/7. Invented one of the most fundamental concepts of physics - the center of gravity.Ĭalculated pi to the most precise value known. Invented the sciences of mechanics and hydrostatics.ĭiscovered the laws of levers and pulleys, which allow us to move heavy objects using small forces. Quick Guide - Archimedes' Greatest Achievements His father, Phidias, was an astronomer.Īrchimedes may also have been related to Hiero II, King of Syracuse. ![]() As we'll see, he was a man who was both of his time and far ahead of his time.Īrchimedes was born in the Greek city-state of Syracuse on the island of Sicily in approximately 287 BC. He was a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, engineer, inventor, and weapons-designer. Archimedes was, arguably, the world's greatest scientist - certainly the greatest scientist of the classical age. ![]()
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