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Archimides |
287 B.C. - 212 B.C. |
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Archimedes was born in Syracuse, Sicily; the year of his birth is uncertain. It was reported that he was seventy-five when he was killed in 212 B.C., so it can be estimated that he was born around 287 B.C. He is said to have been born to poor humble parents but a family that had strong relations with King Hieron II. This contradiction shows that his upbringing remains uncertain. There is some speculation that he had some relation with the monarch. However, one thing is certain. Based on Archimedes account, his father, Phidias, was an astronomer. His father’s work mainly focused on estimations of the ratio of the diameters of the sun and moon.
Except for his studies at Euclid's school in Alexandria, and short visit to Egypt, he spent his entire life in Syracuse. Archimedes proved to be a master at mathematics and spent much of his time pondering new problems to solve; he often got so involved in his work that he would forget to eat. Due to the lack of the modern conveniences of blackboards and paper, he used any available surface, from scribbles in the dirt to ashes from a fire, to draw his geometric figures. To give an example of how involved he was in his work; after bathing and oiling himself, he would use his own body and oil as a blackboard for calculations. Archimedes fame comes mostly from his relationship with Hiero, the king of Syracuse, and his son Gelon. Archimedes had close friendship with the monarch, maybe due to a family relation. He seemed to have a hobby of solving the king's most complicated problems. Once, the king ordered a gold crown and gave the goldsmith the exact amount of gold to make it. When the crown was finished, it had the correct weight but the monarch questioned if some silver had been used to dilute the gold. This was a question that was virtually impossible to verify in that time; but a question that Archimedes could not refuse to find an answer for. One day, when he entered his bathtub, he noticed that the amount of water displaced in the tub was proportional the amount of his body that was submerged. Today this observation is known as “Archimedes' Principle”, and it is this principle that would allow him to answer the question at hand. When he realized the implications of his discovery, he ran naked through the streets shouting, "Eureka! Eureka!” (I have found it!). The goldsmith was proven a fraud. Archimedes enjoyed studying the properties of levers and pulleys. One of his most famous statements "Give me a lever long enough, a place to stand on, and I can move the whole earth" was based from his discovery that any given weight can be moved by a given force with a lever. When King Hieron heard this claim, he challenged him. Archimedes proved his discovery by moving a large ship single-handed with a compound pulley. The weight of the ship was such that all the Syracusans with combined strength could not move it. After conceding to Archimedes, Heiron stated, “From this day forth, Archimedes was to be believed in everything he might say.” Archimedes also had many other inventions including a miniature planetarium and the Archimedes' watering screw; a simple mechanical device used to lift water and such light materials as grain or sand. During the Punic War, the Romans often fell victim to Archimedes 'geometric engines of war'. These inventions such as the use of mirrors to reflect the suns rays, focused towards their ships they would catch. Catapults would discharge showers of missiles through holes in the fortress walls. Archimedes also used moveable poles, projected beyond the walls, to pick up the ships like a crane, or dropped weights on them. The Roman Commander, Marcellus, referred to him as a 'Geometrical Briareus' who toyed and played with their ships. It was said that "if they” (the Romans), “did but see a piece of rope or wood projecting above the wall, they would cry 'there it is again', fearing Archimedes was setting another of this engines in motion. They would turn and flee." With little success by sea, Marcellus was forced to lay siege to the city, which fell after eight months. Archimedes was unaware that city had been taken. While drawing figures in the dust, a Roman soldier stepped on his work and demanded he come with him. Archimedes yelled, "Don't disturb my circles!" Enraged the soldier pulled out his sword and slew him. In honor of Archimedes, the figure of a sphere inscribed inside a cylinder with a 2:3 ratio between the two volumes was engraved on his tombstone. The figure was the solution to the problem he considered his greatest achievement. In
modern times, he is known for his work in mathematics, mechanics,
and hydrostatics. In mathematics, he calculated the value
of pi to be between
He
determined a mathematical exponential system to express extremely
large numbers. He
found that the volume of a sphere is two-thirds the volume of
a circumscribed cylinder. Also, in calculating the areas and volumes of various geometrical
figures, he applied the method of exhaustion, invented earlier
by Eudoxus
of Cnidus. However,
he carried the method much further, far enough in some cases to
anticipate the invention of the calculus.
Bibliography “Amusing Archimedes Anecdotes,” January 26, 2002 http://courses.educ.ksu.edu/EDEL470/MinorityScientist/Archimedes/AMUSING.HTM
“Archimedes,” January 26, 2002, http://www.historychannel.com/
Bragg, Melvyn. Garden, Ruth. On the Giants’ Shoulders. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1998. pp. 13-41.
Dijksterhuis, E.J. Archimedes. Dutch: Ejnar Munksgaard Copenhagen, 1956. pp. 9-25.
Golba, Paul. “10.2. Archimedes (287? -212 B.C.),” January 26, 2002
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Archimedes
is considered one of the greatest mathematicians of all time.
