People have been aware of objects floating on water or sinking since before recorded history. It was not until Archimedes of Syracuse came along, that the theory of flotation and the buoyancy principle were defined. Archimedes was born at Syracuse on the island of Sicily in 287 BC. His father, Phidias, is thought to have been an astronomer who discovered the size and distances of the sun and moon. Archimedes might have been related to King Hieron the second, King Hieron definitely favored Archimedes as his first philosopher. As a young boy, Archimedes developed a life-long interest in the study of the heavens. As a teen he traveled to Egypt where he studied at the great Library of Alexandria, possibly under the followers of Euclid.
Archimedes is often described as being absentminded, self-absorbed, and somewhat eccentric. Despite these personal attributes, he was recognized in his own time as a genius, and is revered today as one of the greatest figures in the history of science and mathematics. It is not known if Archimedes did marry or if he had any kids, Archimedes' first love was always mathematics. He is also known today to have been an experimental physicist, legendary philosopher, artistic engineer and a wise inventor. He would often spend days so intently fixed on solving a problem that he neglected both food and himself to a point that his friends would carry him kicking and fighting to the bath. He often stooped to the ground to work mathematical problems by drawing figures in the dirt. He is even said to have carried a small wooden tray filled with sand, which he used to draw his figures and work on his mathematical problems. You might think of this tray as our modern day lap-top or another recording device. Of course,...
... middle of paper ...
... felt guilty to be so stupid to have send a soldier to get Archimedes from his studies. In his triumph he provided Archimedes with an honorable burial and befriended his dead relative.
On Archimedes grave stone there is an inscription of Pi, I think his most famous discovery. Finally a sphere with a cylinder and the 2:3 ratio of the volumes (the solution to the problem), which he took pride as his greatest achievement.
Finally, Archimedes lived from 287B.C to 212 B.C, spending most of his life in his home land. Not much is known about his childhood or about him growing up but without him or modern world wouldn't be the same. Thanks to him we have improved inventions and theories and/or formulas. Such as, the determination of circular area, he approximated more precisely than anyone to date, near development of the Calculus, Quadrature of the parabola, and many more.
Bragg, Melvyn, On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
Geometry, a cornerstone in modern civilization, also had its beginnings in Ancient Greece. Euclid, a mathematician, formed many geometric proofs and theories [Document 5]. He also came to one of the most significant discoveries of math, Pi. This number showed the ratio between the diameter and circumference of a circle.
The life of Archimedes was one of intense and interesting significance. He was born in 287 BC in a seaport city of Syracuse called Sicily. Sicily was a self-governing colony in Magna Graecia, which was in Southern Italy. Plutarch wrote about Archimedes in his book Parallel Lives, which he said Archimedes was related to King Hiero ll, the ruler of Syracuse. There was said to be a biography of Archimedes written by his friend Heracleides, but it has been lost and thus making Archimedes life a bit unknown and obscure. Archimedes was brought up in what has now come to be known as the Hellenistic period. The word “Hellenistic” comes from the word Hellenes, which is greek word for “Greek.” This period of time started when Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, and it ended with Rome’s occupation of the last major Hellenistic kingdom in approximately 30 BC. During the Hellenistic period, the Greek influence of ideas and culture spread, and the language was used often for trading and commerce purpose. During this time period, life was very flourishing...
Perhaps one of the greatest accomplishments of the 3rd century was made by Eratosthenes, who calculated the circumference of the earth within 300 miles of its actual distance. Also, the Alexandrians made great leaps forward in the field of medicine. Hippocrates, who is regarded as the father of modern medicine wrote 53 books on medicine. Later, Herophilus became the first to dissect a human corpse and document in great detail the inside of a human body. Furthermore, he and almost all Egyptian, Greek, and Roman doctors put great stress on the importance of hygiene, diet, exercise and bathing, which are still some of the foundations of modern health. However, the greatest overall advancements that the Alexandrians made great were technological advancements. One man who helped move technology of the ancient world forward the most was Hero, who invented the water clock and the steam turbine. Some of the inventions created by the Alexandrians are still used today, such as levers, pulleys, pumps, screws, springs, and
Hippocrates taught in Athens and worked on squaring the circle and also worked on duplicating the cube. He grew far in these areas and although his work is not lost, it must have contained much of what Euclid later included in Books One and Two of the Elements.
Born between 530-569 B.C. Pythagoras of Samos is described as the first "pure mathematician." Pythagoras' father was Mnesarchus of Tyre and Pythais of Samos. Mnesarchus was a merchant who was granted citizenship after he brought corn to Samos during a famine. The citizenship was an act of gratitude. There are accounts that Pythagoras traveled widely with his father, even back to his father's home, Tyre and Italy. During these travels Pythagoras was educated by Chaldaeans and learned scholars in Syria.
Oedipus Rex, having lived his life in all the glory Thebes could give to a person of his stature. Born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes, Oedipus was condemned before he was born. He was prophesied to kill his father and mate with his mother. Just after birth, a Shepard was ordered to take Oedipus with him far away into nothingness and slay him so that Apollo’s prophecy wouldn’t come true. So, in loyalty of his liege, the Shepard took the baby with him when he took his herd of sheep to graze in the fields. Feeling pity for the child, he couldn’t kill him and gave him to a fellow Shepard in order to spare his life. This man took Oedipus with him to Corinth and gave him new parents. But soon, Oedipus heard the prophesy made by Apollo and fearing ...
Inventor and astronomer Galileo Galilei is one of the most well-known scientists in the history of the world. Galileo has been credited for many astonishing inventions such as the pendulum and the telescope. Through many years of research and studious acts, he discovered behaviors of the universe that still hold true today. Galileo, “the Father of Modern Science”, changed the world.
Galileo used this great invention to report astronomical facts such as the moon is cover with craters instead of being smooth, the Milky Way is composed of millions of stars, and Jupiter have four moons. Perhaps the most famous discovery is the Earth revolves around the Sun and the Earth is not the center of the universe (even though he was discredited at the time).
Euclid and Archimedes are two of the most important scientists and mathematicians of all time. Their achievements and discoveries play a pivotal role in today’s mathematics and sciences. A lot of the very basic principles and core subjects of mathematics, physics, engineering, inventing, and astronomy came from the innovations, inventions, and discoveries that were made by both Euclid and Archimedes.
Even though Oedipus is a hero, we should not admire him, as the intentions for his actions are self-centered. This distinction is necessary to help us better understand the difference between being a hero, and a hero worth of admiration. It is important to know that somebody’s admiration must ultimately stem from the intentions of their actions rather than the results of their actions alone, so we can act accordingly in the future.
The Bernoulli family had eight significant and important mathematicians, starting with Jacob Bernoulli, born in 1654. Though there was a great deal of hatred and jealousy between the Bernuollis, they made many remarkable contributions in mathematics and science and helped progress mathematics to become what it is today. For example, Daniel discovered a way to measure blood pressure that was used for 170 years, which advanced the medical field. Daniel’s way of measuring pressure is still used today to measure the air speed of a plane. Without the Bernoulli family’s contributions and advancements to calculus, probability, and other areas of mathematics and science, mathematics would not be where it is now.
Carl Friedrich Gauss is revered as a very important man in the world of mathematicians. The discoveries he completed while he was alive contributed to many areas of mathematics like geometry, statistics, number theory, statistics, and more. Gauss was an extremely brilliant mathematician and that is precisely why he is remembered all through today. Although Gauss left many contributions in each of the aforementioned fields, two of his discoveries in the fields of mathematics and astronomy seem to have had the most tremendous effect on modern day mathematics.
The 17th Century saw Napier, Briggs and others greatly extend the power of mathematics as a calculator science with his discovery of logarithms. Cavalieri made progress towards the calculus with his infinitesimal methods and Descartes added the power of algebraic methods to geometry. Euclid, who lived around 300 BC in Alexandria, first stated his five postulates in his book The Elements that forms the base for all of his later Abu Abd-Allah ibn Musa al’Khwarizmi, was born abo...
Euclid of Alexandria was born in about 325 BC. He is the most prominent mathematician of antiquity best known for his dissertation on mathematics. He was able to create “The Elements” which included the composition of many other famous mathematicians together. He began exploring math because he felt that he needed to compile certain things and fix certain postulates and theorems. His book included, many of Eudoxus’ theorems, he perfected many of Theaetetus's theorems also. Much of Euclid’s background is very vague and unknown. It is unreliable to say whether some things about him are true, there are two types of extra information stated that scientists do not know whether they are true or not. The first one is that given by Arabian authors who state that Euclid was the son of Naucrates and that he was born in Tyre. This is believed by historians of mathematics that this is entirely fictitious and was merely invented by the authors. The next type of information is that Euclid was born at Megara. But this is not the same Euclid that authors thought. In fact, there was a Euclid of Megara, who was a philosopher who lived approximately 100 years before Euclid of Alexandria.