Moving the World

"Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I will move the world." Archimedes a Greek scholar, mathematician, engineer, inventor, and astronomer once declared these words. Archimedes was regarded and acknowledged as an admirable mathematician, one of the best. In fact Archimedes invented the square root of a circle, which we know as pi. Knowing the method of pi has lead to scientific and technological advances that have furthered the development of civilization. Were would we be if Archimedes had not discovered the system of pi?

Living in Syracuse, which is located on the island of Sicily, in the time of 287 BC means Archimedes, lived before the time of Christ. Unfortunately around 212 BC at the age 57 Archimedes died in the second Punic war. An irritable roman soldier, who was trying to kidnap Archimedes, is the one to blame for his death. When Archimedes refused to go with the roman soldier he killed the mathematician then and there. Amazingly Archimedes is known to be a relative and a best buddy of Hiero II, who was the king of Syracuse during Archimedes' life. Regretfully nothing else is known about any other members of Archimedes' family.

One of the many impressions of Archimedes creativeness begins with a brilliant man running through the streets of Greece with no clothing yelling, “Eureka!” Apparently Archimedes did not even think as he jumped out of a bathing tub. Supposedly when a person discovers something new and is craving to shout it out to the world every other thought is far from their mind. Archimedes just jumped joyfully out bathing tub and did not pause for the appropriate robe that would have made him presentable. The genius was all choked up because he had discovered that when you enter into a container of water the level goes up. King Hiero had laid real anxiety upon Archimedes, concerning his new, supposedly, gold crown. Suspecting a craftsman had overcharged the king for his crown Archimedes wanted to confirm the King's suspicions. However the weight of the gold crown could not be accurately measured by ordinary means. Archimedes was stuck. Just to take a minute to relive his distress the scientist took a bath. As he lowered himself into the tube he realized the elevation of water rised. The king’s crown could be measured by water. This is how the elevation of water was discovered.

As Archimedes traveled through life all the discoveries he made were written in a book, which is now referred to as the prayer book and Archimedes palimpsest. This book is now held at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and is full of history. Besides discovering the elevation of water this great scientist also invented many gizmos such as the screw, levers, and pulleys, which we still use today. All of the discoveries Archimedes formed truly were amazing. This is so much history about him and his dinger hoppers. With all the discoveries Archimedes has made I just might have believed him when he said, “I will move the world”. Truly amazing!

" Bendick, Jeanne. Archimedes and the Door of Science. North Dakota: Minto, 1995
" Rorres, Chris. Archimedes. October, 1995. Drexel University, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. http://www.mcs.drexel.edu/~corres/Archimede/contents.html " Golba, Paul. 10.2. Archimedes (287-212 B.C.). Interactive Real Analysis. http://www.shi.edu/projects/reals/history/archimed.html
" Calinger, Ronald S. "Archimedes." The World Book Encyclopedia, 1991. by Chris Rorresmailto:rorres@vet.upenn.edumailto:rorres@vet.upenn.edu Copy October 1995]