Archimedes
Archimedes was an astronomer, and mathematician. He was born in 287 BC in Syracuse, Sicily. His father was Phidas who was also an astronomer. That is all we know about his father, and only because Archimedes wrote it in some of his work (Sandreckoner). Archimedes had many invention and important findings. (O’Connor, 2006)
Archimedes invented the Archimedes screw, (in Egypt). The Archimedes screw was a pump, still used in many parts of the world. It is a pipe in the shape of a helix with its lower end dipped in water, as the device is rotated water is raised up the pipe. (O’Connor, 2006). He built this screw in C. 260 BCE. (Franceschetti, 1999)
Some of Archimedes inventions helped Rome withstand a siege for two years, during the first Punic war. This war took place from 264-241 BCE. Some of the things he built in this time were catapults of various sizes for different ranges. He also supposedly used mirrors to focus the sunlight to catch ships on fire with in a bowshot away. The reason I said supposedly is this was first mentioned long after the battle took place so there is a chance it is false. (Franceschetti, 1999)
Archimedes is well remembered for coming up with the most accurate measurement for pi. Pi is the ratio of circumference of a circle to its diameter. (Gay, 1988). He discovered this in about 230 BCE. He made a lot of discoveries using the method of exhaustion. The method of exhaustion is calculating an area by approximating it by the areas of a sequence of polygons. (O’Connor, 2006)
He also used levers or a bar as the fulcrum, (fixed support beam), and with some rope a person could move heavy objects with slight effort. As Archimedes put it "move the world". The king asked Archimedes to probe the lever, so he picked up a loaded ship from the harbor. (Gay, 1988)
Archimedes had his own law, called the Archimedes Law. The law explains buoyancy, or why objects seem to lose weight in water or other liquids. (Gay, 1988). He discovered...
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