Monday, August 19, 2019
Archimedes :: essays research papers
                                        Archimedes S. Romano      Archimedes was a native of Syracuse, Sicily. Some authors have said that he visited Egypt and invented a device there now known as Archimedes' screw. This screw is a pump, still used in many parts of the world. When Archimedes was a young man, he studied with the descendants of Euclid in Alexandria. He was familiar with the mathematics used there, and he knew personally the mathematicians working there and he sent his results to Alexandria with personal messages. He regarded Conon of Samos, one of the mathematicians at Alexandria, very highly for his abilities as a mathematician and he also regarded him as a close friend.      In the preface to â€Å"On Spirals†Archimedes told a story about his friends in Alexandria. He said that he was in the habit of sending them statements of his latest theorems, but without giving proofs. Some of the mathematicians there claimed the results as their own so Archimedes said that on the last occasion when he sent them theorems he included two which were false. Other than in the prefaces to his works, information about Archimedes comes to us from a number of sources such as in stories from Plutarch, Livy, and others. Plutarch tells us that Archimedes was related to King Hieron II of Syracuse. Evidence of his friendship with the family of King Hieron II comes from the fact that â€Å"The Sandreckoner†was dedicated to Gelon, the son of King Hieron.      There are many of references to Archimedes in the writings of the time. He was probably the only mathematician of his time with such a high reputation. This is because he was not interest in new mathematical ideas but had invented war machines. They were particularly effective in the defense of Syracuse when it was attacked by the Romans and Marcellus. Plutarch writes in his work on Marcellus, the Roman commander, about how Archimedes' war machines were used against the Romans in the siege of 212 BC; â€Å"... when Archimedes began to ply his engines, he at once shot against the land forces all sorts of missile weapons, and immense masses of stone that came down with incredible noise and violence; against which no man could stand; for they knocked down those upon whom they fell in heaps, breaking all their ranks and files. In the meantime huge poles thrust out from the walls
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