Short Biography On Archimedes
Archimedes is considered one of the greatest mathematicians and physicists of old times.
He was born in 287 BC in Syracuse. He probably studied at Alexandria, Egypt. Archimedes helped his country during the Roman attacks, by inventing war machines. The King of Syracuse, Hiero was a relative and friend of Archimedes. One of the machines he designed for the war was used to hurl heavy stones or masses at the enemy. It is said that once he used mirrors in large numbers, which reflected sunlight on the enemy ship, and the ship caught fire. There are doubts about this legend and many scientists think it highly improbable. Some of his other inventions were the Claw of Archimedes and an Odometer.
The discovery that is known as Archimedes Screw became quite famous. This device helps in raising the water levels and is still used in modern pumps. Archimedes is known the world over for his Archimedes Principle about density and buoyancy. The thinker reached upon this discovery while taking a bath in a tub. Archimedes was more interested in
pure mathematics, but common people appreciated his gadgets more than his mathematics theories. He was a great mathematician. Archimedes was the one who discovered the value of pi. He had written many books on the studies of the cylinder, spirals, parabola, plane equilibrium, measurement of the circle, and floating bodies.
His use of levers was made famous by his words,’ Give me a place to stand and rest my lever on and I can move the earth’. He was a genius with geometrical theorems. He invented a method to do calculations, which is closer to our present-day calculus. He was also an astronomer and had possibly devised machines to map the sky and other machines to gauge movements of the Sun, Moon, and the planets.
Archimedes tried all his machines and inventions, but in the Second Punic war, the Romans captured Syracuse. It is said that the Roman Emperor had instructed to bring Archimedes without harming him, but a soldier who didn’t recognize him killed Archimedes during the sack of the city.
