Archimedes
Archimedes was born in 287 BC in Syracuse,
a Greek seaport colony in Sicily.
Archimedes’ father was Phidias. He was
an astronomer; this is all we know
about his father and we learn this from
Archimedes’ work, The Sandreckoner.
Archimedes was educated in
Alexandria, Egypt. Archimedes’ friend, Heracleides,
wrote a biography about
him, but this work was lost. Some authors report that he
visited Egypt and
there invented a tool known as Archimedes' screw. This is a
pump, still used
today in parts of the world. It is likely that, when he was a
young man,
Archimedes studied with the followers of Euclid. Many of his ideas
seem to
correspond with the mathematics developed there. This speculation is
much
more certain because he sent his results to Alexandria with
personal
messages. He considered Conon of Samos, one of the greatest
achieving
mathematicians at Alexandria, both for his abilities as a
mathematician and he
also respected him as a close friend. Archimedes spent
most of his life in
Sicily, near Syracuse except for his journeys to
Alexandria. He never held any
public office but he was faithful to his
lifetime of research and experiment. At
times, Archimedes became so immersed
in his work that he would forget to eat. He
used every surface available to
do his work on, including oil on his skin to
ashes from a fire. Many of
Archimedes’ discoveries were put to the test during
the Roman conquest of
Sicily. His mechanical tools and machines were used,
including the legendary
catapult which he is credited for making. This was all
for the protection of
Syracuse. Despite the use of Archimedes’ inventions,
Syracuse was
captured during the Second Punic war. A Roman soldier who found him
drawing a
mathematical diagram in the sand killed Archimedes. It is said
that
Archimedes was so preoccupied in his calculation that he simply said
to the
intruder, "Do not disturb my diagrams." Aside from the fame
Archimedes
earned from his work on the Archimedes’ screw, he was also famous
for his
relationship with the king, Hiero. Hiero often had complicated
problems to
solve, and Archimedes solved them causing surprise among the
town. The king
often challenged Archimedes. One of Archimedes’ quotes is
"Give me a place
to stand and I will move the Earth." The king took him up on
this challenge
and invited him to move a ship that even all the men in
Syracuse. With his
knowledge of levers and pulleys, Archimedes was able to
create a machine that
could move the ship. Archimedes was far beyond his
time. With his discoveries in
mathematics, he was able to predict and imitate
much of modern science.