Archimedes

Archimedes was an inventor and theorist of classical antiquity. He lived in Syracuse, Sicily and maintained correspondences with other thinkers across the Mediterranean.http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/contents.html He is believed to have been educated by disciples of Euclid.http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/contents.htmlArchimedes is chiefly remembered for the eponymous "Archimedes Principle," which states that a body immersed in water will have a buoyancy equal in magnitude to the weight of the displaced fluid.http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/WindTunnel/Activities/buoy_Archimedes.html He also gave an early close approximation of the value of pi.http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/clindsey/mhf4404/archimedes/archimedes.html

Much about Archimedes' life remains a mystery. For instance, it is unknown whether he was married or had any children.http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/contents.html He also may have been related to Syracuse's monarch, King Hieron II, but this is in dispute.http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/contents.html It is however known that Archimedes' father, Phidias, was an astronomer.http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/contents.html

Archimedes' work on compound pulley systems led to a number of his inventions, including the "claw of Archimedes," a defensive weapon capable of seizing hostile ships and dashing them against the rocky Sicilian coast. http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Claw/illustrations.htm Another of Archimedes' weapons consisted of an enormous reflective dish of interlocking hexagonal mirrors, probably the bronze shields of Greek soldiers.http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Mirrors/Tzetzes.html It worked by capturing the sun's light and reflecting it in a concentrated beam or "death ray," aimed at hostile ships at sea. Not only did the intensity of the light dazzle and confuse the attackers, but the sustained heat of the beam caused the ships to eventually burst into flame.http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Mirrors/Tzetzes.htmlhttp://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/experiments/deathray/10_Mythbusters.html While later ages tended to view accounts of such a weapon with skepticism, the weapon has been rebuilt and tested with success.http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/experiments/deathray/10_Mythbusters.html

Before the rise of the Roman Empire as the dominant power in the Mediterranean, there were a number of Greek colonies in North Africa and Continental Europe. Syracuse was one such colony.http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Siege/Summary.html When Roman legions attacked the city, Archimedes, and the military technology for which he is responsible, were instrumental in the city's defense.http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Siege/Summary.html After a prolonged siege, Roman soldiers managed to conquer and subjugate Syracuse. Marcellus, the Roman commander, purportedly ordered that Archimedes be captured alive, but his orders went unheeded, and Archimedes was slain.http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Siege/Summary.html In accounts of Archimedes' death, later historians have tended to emphasize Archimedes' preoccupations with the abstract. Plutarch, Valerius Maximus, Livy, and others maintain that Archimedes was so intent on "drawing [geometric] figures in the dust," that he failed to even notice that Romans had entered the city.http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Death/Histories.html His last words,directed at the soldier about to slay him, were purportedly, "Don't disturb my circles."http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Death/Histories.html

• 734 B.C.: Syracuse founded by Greek colonistshttp://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Timeline/Timeline.html
• 287 B.C.: Archimedes is bornhttp://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Timeline/Timeline.html
• 264 B.C.: Beginning of First Punic War for control of Sicilyhttp://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Timeline/Timeline.html
• 241 B.C.: End of First Punic War. Rome gains control of all of Sicily outside of Syracusehttp://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Timeline/Timeline.html
• 218 B.C.: Beginning of Second Punic Warhttp://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Timeline/Timeline.html
• 213 B.C.: Marcellus attacks Syracuse, but is held back by Archimedes' military machines. Syracuse comes under siegehttp://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Timeline/Timeline.html
• 212 B.C.: Syracuse is overpowered, captured and looted by Roman forces. Archimedes is killed in the ensuing violencehttp://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Timeline/Timeline.html

In the Walt Disney film The Sword in the Stone (1963), the wizard Merlin is accompanied by an anthropomorphic owl named "Archimedes." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057546/quotes

The term "Eureka" - commonly invoked as an oath or exclamation, especially in the scientific community, to mark a new revelation or discovery, is widely attributed to Archimedes. According to the Roman historian Vitruvius, Archimedes was in the midst of taking a bath when he discovered the relationship of buoyancy to density; he became so excited that he ran home, naked, shrieking Eureka ("I've found it!").http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-archimede