The Great Ancient Scientist

Archimedes, who was born in 287 BC, is known as one of the world’s greatest ancient scientists. Gifted with a natural genius, Archimedes was a mathematician, mechanical engineer, inventor, astronomer, and physicist. While he was devoted to every branch of science, his true love was for mathematical science. Unfortunately, we do not have many proven facts about this amazing man from the past. Despite this lack of information, much else is known about his discoveries and investigations. Putting his thoughts to paper, Archimedes painstakingly wrote several books aimed for professional scholars, and ten of his works survive today. The knowledge that has been passed down from Archimedes has impacted the world greatly. Today, most of the things taught in school were first thought up by Archimedes. For example, did you ever wonder where pi originated from? It was Archimedes himself. About twenty-two hundred years later, we still have the opportunity to explore Archimedes works, because of all the long hours he spent toiling over his life work. There is much we still have to learn from this great ancient mind.

Being a citizen of the lovely city, Syracuse of Sicily, this brilliant scientist was the son of the astronomer Pheidias and apparently related to Hieron II, who was the most enlightened ruler of the time. Like most Greeks, the young Archimedes attended Alexandria, where he studied under the successors of Euclid and obtained an inspiration for mathematics. Ultimately, it was his mechanical inventions that first accredited his fame. As an aspired scientist, he often would go without food and neglect his person. Archimedes focused on his work. Although he could be a workaholic, he wasn’t without a sense of humor. Supposedly, he purposely inserted false propositions into a manuscript that he lent out to friends. Who knew Archimedes was a practical joker? Advanced in his thinking, one way he would amuse himself was through puzzles and difficult geometry problems. Archimedes was a brilliant and talented scientist who loved learning and whose work mattered very much to him.

Archimedes made many scientific investigations in his lifetime. Except for his lost work On Sphere-Making, he wrote only on strictly mathematical subjects. Incredibly, ten of Archimedes terrific writings survived. They are the following: The Method, A Collection of Lemmas, The Measurement of a Circle, The Quadrature of the Parabola, On Spirals, The Sphere and the Cylinder, On Conoids and Sphereoids, The Sand-Reckoner, On Plane Equilibriums, and finally On Floating Bodies, which is about Archimedes’ discoveries on the displacement of water. Behind this discovery is a popular story, where Archimedes shouts “Eureka”! Wanting to dedicate a crown of gold to the gods, Hieron II probably weighed some gold to give to a goldsmith for the making of the wreath. When it was finished, he asked Archimedes to discover if the goldsmith mixed any sliver into the crown. Archimedes was perplexed. This was a laborious problem. How’d he figure it out? He needed a bath! As he entered the tub, he noticed the water raising and joyously leaped out of the public bath (as the story goes) and ran through the town naked exclaiming, “Eureka! I found it!” What he had discovered was that a submerged body would displace water according to its volume, thus he was able to test the crown. Archimedes made many other amazing discoveries and inventions. While studying in Egypt, it is believed that he may have first thought of the water-screw. Also to name a few of his findings, the laws for the lever and balance, pulleys, he built a planetarium and weapons of war, the list goes on and on. For one individual, he made an incredible amount of scientific investigations that affect our lives today.

“Give me a place to stand on and I will move the earth,” were the exact words of the Greek mathematician. Amazingly he proved his theory by moving a large ship off the land with just a few pulleys and himself. When Archimedes set his mind to something, he accomplished it. This devotion was ultimately the cause of his death. During the second Punic War, Archimedes died at the age of seventy-five years. There are several different accounts on the cause of Archimedes death, but all agree that he died at this time in history. After the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, one version states that a roman solider ordered Archimedes, who was working on a diagram, to present himself immediately to General Marcellus. He refused, because he wanted to finish the problem first. Enraged, the soldier killed him on the spot. Although that was the end of Archimedes’ life, the information from his investigations has made a difference to generations after. Today, we still use the Archimedes’ screw. This machine can lift water uphill through a cylinder that has blades that twist upward like a screw. Since water is very heavy, this design of transport is extremely affective. His invention the pulley is simply remarkable. They are used to lift elevators, open garage doors, and in machines to move heavy weights. This genius’ principals and mathematic equations are still used today. Over all, we can safely except that if not for this man, things would be very different. Sadly, we do not have all Archimedes works. Perhaps we never will. What more treasures of scientific knowledge would we obtain from the world’s greatest ancient mathematician, inventor, scientist, etc, ever?

Hutchins R. (1952) Great Books of the Western World. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. (William Benton)

Durant W. (1939) The Life of Greece. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Gow M. (2005) Archimedes: Mathematical Genius of the Ancient World. New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, Inc.