Archimedes

Archimedes was born in 287 B.C and died in 212 BC in Syracuse, Sicily. He was an aristocrat and the son of an astronomer. Archimedes died during the Siege of Syracuse when a soldier killed him even though there were orders that he would not be harmed. The last words that he said before he died were, "Do not disturb my circles." Little is known of his early life except that he studied for a short period of time in Alexandria, Egypt. He designed machines that were capable of attacking ships in the water and setting ships on fire using an array of mirrors.His mechanical inventions helped defeat the Roman fleet of Marcellus.


Even though he was self-taught, he was one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. In many areas of mathematics, his work and results were not surpassed for over 1500 years. He discovered how to find the area of a circle by summing the areas of different types of rectangles. He also created the Method of Exhaustion by taking smaller and smaller rectangular areas and summing them. When he did this, he yelled Eureka. By doing this, he found the areas and even volumes of several other shapes in the process. He also found the value of one fourth in the process. He also made the Spiral of Archimedes, which made calculus very easy to do.


Today both of these discoveries are being used in the fields of math and science. Since Archimedes found the area of a circle, we can now find the circumference of different shapes and different sizes. Since he found the value of one fourth, we now use it to make the quarter and to take measurements. When Archimedes discovered the laws of levers and pulleys, his boast was, “Give me a place to stand and I will move the earth.” was his boast when he discovered the laws of levers and pulleys To this day, many of Archimedes discoveries have tried to be altered, but only few have been. If he would not have made these discoveries, the world might be in chaos. If he did not create the Spiral of Archimedes, calculus might have been harder than it should have.


If he did not find all of these discoveries, the world might be in chaos. Without him finding the area of circles, geometry might not have existed. Without one fourth, we would not be able to find certain measurements for experiments in math in science. In addition, the quarter might have never been invented. If Archimedes had not discovered the laws of levers and pulleys, we would not be able to lift heavy objects. The discoveries of Archimedes are all more interesting when people consider the times in which he had lived. Archimedes made important discoveries in several fields, and he then advanced them so far that his results were not improved for many centuries. Archimedes is certainly in the rankings as one of the greatest minds in recorded history.