8/14/2019 Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (c.287 BC

1/3

Archimedes

Archimedes of Syracuse (c.287 BC - c. 212 BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician, physicistand engineer. Although little is known about his life, he is regarded as one of the most importantscientists in classical antiquity. In addition to making important discoveries in the field of mathematicsand geometry, he is credited with producing machines that were well ahead of their time.

The Ancient Roman historians showed a strong interest in Archimedes and wrote severalbiographies relating to his life and works, while the few copies of his treatises that survived through theMiddle Ages were a major influence on scientists during the Renaissance.

Archimedes produced the first known summation of an infinite series with a method that is stillused in the area of calculus today.

Archimedes was a famous mathematician whose theorems and philosophies became worldknown. He gained a reputation in his own time which few other mathematicians of this period achieved.He is considered by most historians of mathematics as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time.

Discoveries and Inventions

Most of the facts about his life come from a biography about the Roman soldier Marcellus writtenby the Roman biographer Plutarch. According to Plutarch, Archimedes had so low an opinion of the kindof practical invention at which he excelled and to which he owed his contemporary fame that he left nowritten work on such subjects. While it is true that--apart from a dubious reference to a treatise, OnSphere-Making- all of his known works were of a theoretical character, nevertheless his interest inmechanics deeply influenced his mathematical thinking. Not only did he write works on theoreticalmechanics and hydrostatics, but his treatise Method Concerning Mechanical Theorems shows that heused mechanical reasoning as a heuristic device for the discovery of new mathematical theorems.

He was best known for his discovery of the relation between the surface and volume of a sphereand its circumscribing cylinder, for hisformulation of a hydrostatic principle Archimedes' principle andfor inventing the Archimedes screw (a device for raising water).

Archimedes Principal states: an object immersed in a fluid experiences a buoyant force that is

equal in magnitude to the force of gravity on the displaced fluid.

He also invented things such as the hydraulic screw - for raising water from a lower to a higherlevel, catapult, the lever, the compound pulley and the burning mirror.

In mechanics Archimedes discovered fundamental theorems concerning the center of gravity ofplane figures and solids.

Archimedes Screw

Archimedes Screw, or Archimedean screw, or screwpump, is a machine historically used fortransferring water from a low-lying body of water into irrigation ditches. It is one of several inventionsand discoveries reputed to have been made by Archimedes, but as some researchers suggest, some formof this mechanism may have been used earlier by Sennacherib, King of Assyria, in the 7th century BC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes_Principlehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes_Principle

8/14/2019 Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (c.287 BC

2/3

Modern screw pumps, consisting of helices rotating in open inclined troughs, are effective forpumping sewage in wastewater treatment plants. The open troughs and the design of the screws permitthe passage of debris without clogging.

Archimedes invented many machines which were used as engines of war. These were particularlyeffective in the defense of Syracuse when it was attacked by the Romans under the command ofMarcellus.

During the Roman siege of Syracuse, he is said to have single-handedly defended the city byconstructing lenses to focus the Sun's light on Roman ships and huge cranes to turn them upside down.When the Romans finally broke the siege, Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier after snapping athim, "Don't disturb my circles,'' a reference to a geometric figure he had outlined on the sand.

While Archimedes did not invent the lever, he gave the first rigorous explanation of the principlesinvolved, which are the transmission of force through a fulcrum and moving the effort applied through agreater distance than the object to be moved.

A large part of Archimedes' work in engineering arose from fulfilling the needs of his home cityof Syracuse. The Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis describes how King Hieron II commissionedArchimedes to design a huge ship, the Syracusia, which could be used for luxury travel, carrying supplies,and as a naval warship. The Syracusia is said to have been the largest ship built in classical antiquity.

According to Athenaeus, it was capable of carrying 600 people and contained garden decorations, agymnasium and a temple dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite. Since a ship of this size would leak aconsiderable amount of water through the hull, the Archimedes' Screw was said to have been developedin order to remove the bilge water.

Archimedes had stated in a letter to King Hieron that given the force, any given weight might bemoved, and even boasted, we are told, relying on the strength of demonstration, that if there were anotherearth, by going into it he could remove this. Hiero being struck with amazement at this, and entreatinghim to make good this problem by actual experiment, and show some great weight moved by a smallengine, he fixed accordingly upon a ship of burden out of the king's arsenal, which could not be drawn outof the dock without great labor and many men; and, loading her with many passengers and a full freight,sitting himself the while far off, with no great endeavor, but only holding the head of the pulley in hishand and drawing the cords by degrees, he drew the ship in a straight line, as smoothly and evenly as if

she had been in the sea.

Aristotle

Aristotle (384 BC - March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, student of Plato and teacher ofAlexander the Great. He wrote many books about physics, poetry, zoology, logic, rhetoric, government,and biology.

Aristotle, along with Plato and Socrates, are generally considered the three most influential ancient Greekphilosophers in Western thought. Among them they transformed Presocratic Greek philosophy into the

foundations of Western philosophy as we know it. The writings of Plato and Aristotle form the core ofAncient philosophy.

Aristotle placed much more value on knowledge gained from the senses and would correspondingly bebetter classed among modern empiricists (see materialism and empiricism). He also achieved a"grounding" of dialectic in the Topics by allowing interlocutors to begin from commonly held beliefs(Endoxa); his goal being non-contradiction rather than Truth. He set the stage for what would eventuallydevelop into the scientific method centuries later. Although he wrote dialogues early in his career, nomore than fragments of these have survived.

8/14/2019 Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (c.287 BC

3/3

The works of Aristotle that still exist today are in treatise form and were, for the most part, unpublishedtexts. These were probably lecture notes or texts used by his students, and were almost certainly revisedrepeatedly over the course of years. As a result, these works tend to be eclectic, dense and difficult toread.

Among the most important ones are Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, De Anima (Onthe Soul) and Poetics.

Their works, although connected in many fundamental ways, are very different in both style andsubstance.

Aristotle is known for being one of the few figures in history who studied almost every subject possible atthe time. In science, Aristotle studied anatomy, astronomy, embryology, geography, geology,meteorology, physics, and zoology.

In philosophy, Aristotle wrote on aesthetics, economics, ethics, government, metaphysics, politics,psychology, rhetoric and theology. He also dealt with education, foreign customs, literature and poetry.His combined works practically comprise an encyclopedia of Greek knowledge.