Archimedes :: essays research papers

Archimedes (287-212 BC), preeminent Greekmathematician and inventor, who wrote important kit and boodleon scan and solid geometry, arithmetic, and mechanics.Archimedes was born in Syracuse, Sicily, and educated inAlexandria, Egypt. In pure mathematics he anticipatedmany of the discoveries of innovational science, such as theintegral calculus, through his studies of the areas and good deals of curved solid figures and the areas of planefigures. He also proved that the volume of a sphere istwo-thirds the volume of a cylinder that circumscribes thesphere. In mechanics, Archimedes defined the principle ofthe lever and is assign with inventing the compoundpulley. During his stay in Egypt he invented the hydraulicscrew for tiptop water from a lower to a higher level. He is top hat known for discovering the law of hydrostatics, oftencalled Archimedes principle, which states that a bodyimmersed in unsound loses weight equal to the weight of theamount of fluid it displaces. This discov ery is state to havebeen made as Archimedes stepped into his bath andperceived the dis displace water overflowing, and afterviewing that had ran outside into the streets nakedscreaming "Eureka(I found it)" Archimedes fatigued themajor part of his life in Sicily, in and around Syracuse. Hedid not hold any public office but given over his entire lifetimeto research and experiment. During the Roman conquest ofSicily, however, he placed his gifts at the disposal of thestate, and several of his mechanical devices were employedin the defense mechanism of Syracuse. Among the war machinesattributed to him are the catapult and-perhaps legendary-amirror system for focusing the suns rays on the invadersboats and igniting them. After the capture of Syracuseduring the Second Punic War, Archimedes was killed by a