Archimedes

A Greek mathematician, physicist and inventor who created the pulley and a water pumping device known as the Archimedes' Screw. He also invented a principle in hydrostatics, now known as the Archimedes' Principle.

Fast Facts

1. Born: 287 B.C.
2. Birthplace: Syracuse, Sicily
3. Father: the astronomer Phidias
4. Died: 212 B.C.
5. Murdered by a Roman soldier
6. Killed during the Siege of Syracuse
7. A military adviser and relative to King Hieron II
8. Invented military weapons to defend Syracuse during the war
9. Father of Integral Calculus
10. Father of Mathematical Physics

Contributions to Modern Mathematics

Archimedes applied the method of exhaustion to approximate the value of pi. He pioneered studies on Hydrostatics, static mechanics and Pycnometry. He discovered density and specific gravity. Along with Carl Friedrich Gauss and Sir Isaac Newton, Archimedes is named one of the greatest mathematicians in history.

Most Famous Works

Archimedes is best known for his writings: Measurement of a Circle, On the Sphere and Cylinder, On Spirals, The Sand Reckoner, On Plane Equilibriums, On Floating Bodies, Quadrature of the Parabola, On the Method of Mechanical Problems, On Conoids and Spheroids, Archimedes' Cattle Problem, The Method of Mechanical Theorems and Ostomachion.

Categories