The Life and Work of Archimedes

The Life and Work of Archimedes

Archimedes was a very intelligent and a great man. He is thought of as

one of the three greatest mathematicians of all time, along with

Newton and Gauss. In his time he was referred to by such great aliases

as “The wise one”, “The Master”, and “The Great Geometer”. And his

work has yet to have been forgotten. He was indubitably was one of the

last of the great Greek mathematical minds that this world has ever

seen. I will attempt to show you what the mere presence of Archimedes

in our history has meant to mathematics and even the colony of

Syracuse itself. We would not be the same if it wasn’t for the man

simply known as Archimedes.

Life and family

Archimedes was born in 287 B.C., in Syracuse, Sicily. For the most

part he stayed there for most of his life. He was the son of Phidias,

an astronomer and it is said that he was related to the King Heiron II

for whom Archimedes would help solve his problems for him. It is not

known if he was married or even had any children it is also unknown

about his relationships with his family because the records have all

been lost. Also for some reason there is no record of his mother’s

profession or even her name. Regardless his family was pretty wealthy,

for instance they could afford to send to send him to Euclid’s school

in Alexandria because at that time it was the primary place for

intelligent education. During his stay there he probably found

Apollonius of Perga, which was Euclid’s pupil who also happened to be

the head of the mathematical school, which would explain who

influenced him into the field of mathematics.

His Work and Discoveries

Ar...

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“obstacles” that he had to overcome except maybe the jealousy of the

other mathematicians of his time. Archimedes most famous quote is “Eureka”

which means “I have found it”

Reaction / conclusion

Archimedes was a brilliant man; he excelled in engineering,

mathematics, and forms of science and I can’t even somewhat master a

small portion of one of things that he did, so I would definitely have

to give kudos to him. We would not be the same if it wasn’t for the

man simply known as Archimedes. His life has just been that important

to the things that are taught to high school and college students

across the globe. I was not surprised to see that the other

mathematicians were jealous of him and wanted to take some of his

spotlight and fame away from him. People tend to do that, even in

today’s time.