What did Archimedes invent? The tale of the scientist Archimedes, who cost an entire army

The ancient Greek physicist, mathematician and engineer Archimedes made many geometric discoveries, laid the foundations of hydrostatics and mechanics, and created inventions that served as the starting point for the further development of science. Legends about Archimedes were created during his lifetime. The scientist spent several years in Alexandria, where he met and became friends with many other great scientific figures of his time.

The biography of Archimedes is known from the works of Titus, Polybius, Livy, Vitruvius and other authors who lived later than the scientist himself. It is difficult to assess the reliability of these data. It is known that Archimedes was born in the Greek colony of Syracuse, located on the island of Sicily. His father, presumably, was the astronomer and mathematician Phidias. also claimed that the scientist was a close relative of the good and skillful ruler of Syracuse, Hieron II.

Archimedes probably spent his childhood in Syracuse, and at a young age he went to Alexandria of Egypt to receive an education. For several centuries, this city was the cultural and scientific center of the civilized Ancient World. The scientist presumably received his primary education from his father. After living for several years in Alexandria, Archimedes returned to Syracuse and lived there for the rest of his life.

Engineering

The scientist actively developed mechanical structures. He outlined a detailed theory of the lever and effectively used this theory in practice, although the invention itself was known even before him. Including, based on knowledge in this area, he made a number of block-lever mechanisms in the port of Syracuse. These devices made it easier to lift and move heavy loads, speeding up and optimizing port operations. And the “Archimedean screw”, designed for scooping up water, is still used in Egypt.

Archimedes' inventions: Archimedes' screw

Great importance have theoretical research as a scientist in the field of mechanics. Based on the proof of the law of leverage, he began to write the work “On the Equilibrium of Plane Figures.” The proof is based on the axiom that equal bodies on equal shoulders will necessarily balance. Archimedes followed the same principle of constructing a book - starting with the proof of his own law - when writing the work “On the Floating of Bodies”. This book begins with a description of Archimedes' well-known law.

Mathematics and physics

Discoveries in the field of mathematics were the scientist's real passion. According to Plutarch, Archimedes forgot about food and self-care when he was on the verge of another invention in this area. The main direction of his mathematical research was the problems of mathematical analysis.

Even before Archimedes, formulas were invented to calculate the areas of circles and polygons, the volumes of pyramids, cones and prisms. But the scientist’s experience allowed him to develop general techniques for calculating volumes and areas. To this end, he improved the method of exhaustion, invented by Eudoxus of Cnidus, and brought the ability to apply it to a virtuoso level. Archimedes did not become the creator of the theory of integral calculus, but his work subsequently became the basis for this theory.

The mathematician also laid the foundations of differential calculus. From a geometric point of view, he studied the possibility of determining the tangent to a curved line, and from a physical point of view, the speed of a body at any moment in time. The scientist examined a flat curve known as the Archimedean spiral. He found the first generalized way to find tangents to a hyperbola, parabola and ellipse. Only in the seventeenth century were scientists able to fully understand and reveal all the ideas of Archimedes, which reached those times in his surviving works. The scientist often refused to describe his inventions in books, which is why not every formula he wrote has survived to this day.

Archimedes' inventions: "solar" mirrors

The scientist considered the invention of formulas for calculating the surface area and volume of a ball to be a worthy discovery. If in the previous cases described, Archimedes refined and improved other people’s theories, or created quick calculation methods as an alternative to existing formulas, then in the case of determining the volume and surface of a ball, he was the first. Before him, no scientist had coped with this task. Therefore, the mathematician asked to knock out a ball inscribed in a cylinder on his gravestone.

The scientist's discovery in the field of physics was a statement that is known as Archimedes' law. He determined that any body immersed in a liquid is subject to pressure by a buoyant force. It is directed upward, and in magnitude is equal to the weight of the liquid that was displaced when the body was placed in the liquid, regardless of the density of this liquid.

There is a legend associated with this discovery. One day, the scientist was allegedly approached by Hiero II, who doubted that the weight of the crown made for him corresponded to the weight of the gold that was provided for its creation. Archimedes made two ingots of the same weight as the crown: silver and gold. Next, he placed these ingots in turn in a vessel with water and noted how much its level increased. The scientist then placed the crown in the vessel and discovered that the water did not rise to the level to which it rose when each of the ingots was placed in the vessel. Thus it was discovered that the master had kept part of the gold for himself.

There is a myth that a bath helped Archimedes make a key discovery in physics. While swimming, the scientist allegedly lifted his leg slightly in the water, discovered that it weighed less in the water, and experienced an epiphany. A similar situation took place, but with its help the scientist discovered not Archimedes’ law, but the law of the specific gravity of metals.

Astronomy

Archimedes became the inventor of the first planetarium. When moving this device observe:

moon and sun rising;
the movement of the five planets;
disappearance of the Moon and Sun beyond the horizon;
phases and eclipses of the moon.

Archimedes' inventions: planetarium

The scientist also tried to create formulas for calculating distances to celestial bodies. Modern researchers suggest that Archimedes considered the Earth to be the center of the world. He believed that Venus, Mars and Mercury revolved around the Sun, and this entire system revolved around the Earth.

Personal life

Much less is known about the scientist’s personal life than about his science. His contemporaries also composed numerous legends about the gifted mathematician, physicist and engineer. Legend says that one day Hiero II decided to present Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, with a multi-deck ship as a gift. It was decided to name the watercraft "Syracuse", but it could not be launched.

In this situation, the ruler again turned to Archimedes. From several blocks he built a system with the help of which the launch of a heavy vessel was possible with one movement of the hand. According to legend, during this movement Archimedes said:

“Give me a foothold and I will change the world.”

Death

In 212 BC, during the Second Punic War, Syracuse was besieged by the Romans. Archimedes actively used engineering knowledge to help his people achieve victory. Thus, he designed throwing machines, with the help of which the warriors of Syracuse threw heavy stones at their opponents. When the Romans rushed to the walls of the city, hoping that they would not come under fire, another invention of Archimedes - light throwing devices with close action - helped the Greeks pelt them with cannonballs.

Archimedes' inventions: catapult

The scientist helped his compatriots in naval battles. The cranes he developed grabbed enemy ships with iron hooks, lifted them slightly, and then abruptly threw them back. Because of this, ships turned over and crashed. For a long time, these cranes were considered something of a legend, but in 2005 a group of researchers proved the functionality of such devices by reconstructing them from surviving descriptions.

Archimedes' inventions: lifting machine

Thanks to the efforts of Archimedes, the Romans' hope of storming the city failed. Then they decided to go on a siege. In the fall of 212 BC, the colony was taken by the Romans as a result of treason. Archimedes was killed during this incident. According to one version, he was hacked to death by a Roman soldier, whom the scientist attacked for stepping on his drawing.

Other researchers claim that the place where Archimedes died was his laboratory. The scientist was allegedly so carried away by his research that he refused to immediately follow the Roman soldier who was ordered to take Archimedes to the military leader. He, in anger, pierced the old man with his sword.

There are also variations of this story, but they agree that the ancient Roman politician and military leader Marcellus was extremely upset by the death of the scientist and, uniting with both the citizens of Syracuse and his own subjects, gave Archimedes a magnificent funeral. Cicero, who discovered the scientist’s destroyed grave 137 years after his death, saw on it a ball inscribed in a cylinder.

Essays

Quadrature of a parabola
About the ball and cylinder
About spirals
About conoids and spheroids
On the equilibrium of plane figures
Epistle to Eratosthenes on Method
About floating bodies
Circle measurement
Psammit
Stomachion
Archimedes' Bull Problem
Treatise on the construction of a corporeal figure with fourteen bases around a ball
Book of Lemmas
A book about constructing a circle divided into seven equal parts
Book about touching circles

Archimedes is known to have lived in Syracuse. This is Sicily.

At the same time that Hannibal was at war with Rome, the Greek Syracuse found itself in the unpleasant position of having to choose: they had to join one of the warring parties. There was no chance of maintaining neutrality. In the city itself there were different opinions about who to join. Better, of course, to the winner. But the situation was changing.

Syracuse, sending a detachment of 8 thousand soldiers, took part in the resistance to the Romans Leontin. The city fell. Horrors were told about its fall: the Romans killed everyone - warriors, civilians, everything was plundered. Titus Livius, the Roman historian, does not deny that 2,000 defectors were flogged and executed on the orders of the Roman commander Marcellus.

Syracuse decided that the Romans would do even worse to their richer city.

Roman troops began their assault on Syracuse simultaneously from land and sea. And then they encountered Archimedes.

Archimedes was born in 287 BC. in the family of the mathematician and astronomer Phidias and was a relative of the Syracusan king Hieron II. He continued his education in Alexandria. He made interesting astronomical observations, determined the diameter of the Sun and the distances between the planets, and invented a “celestial globe” that made it possible to study the movements of the planets, the phases of the Moon, solar and lunar eclipses. He worked a lot in the field of mechanics, on the invention of various kinds of tools, on solving mathematical and physical problems.

Obviously, he saw his civic duty in protecting the fatherland from invaders.

Map of Syracuse.

Siege of Syracuse.

Marcellus stormed the wall of Achradina from the sea with 60 quinqueremes; From some ships, slingers, archers, and spearmen fired at the wall; he ordered other ships to be connected in twos and, having installed siege weapons on them, to be brought close to the fortifications.

Roman quinquereme.

Archimedes hit distant ships with catapults, and to defeat nearby ones he organized loopholes in the walls. When Roman ships entered the dead zone right under the walls, an “iron paw” fell on them: grabbing the bow of the ship with its paw, they placed the ship on the stern or even lifted it above the sea, and then abandoned it, the ship lost its crew, crashed, and sank.

Loopholes in the walls.

Option "iron paw".

Another one.

The assault from the sea was unsuccessful.

The same goes for sushi. Archimedes' weapons threw stones, arrows, spears, and blocks at the heads of the Romans.

Marcellus abandoned attempts to take the city by storm and proceeded to blockade.

Polybius complements and clarifies Livy's story. The same with Plutarch. According to him, Marcellus cried out: “Shouldn’t we stop fighting this geometer-Briareus, who, sitting calmly by the sea, destroys our ships and, at the same time showering us with so many arrows, surpasses the hundred-armed giants?” In the end, Archimedes inspired such terror in the Roman soldiers that they fled in panic when they saw a piece of rope or a log above the city wall.

There was no talk of taking the city by storm. The blockade also turned out to be ineffective: food was regularly imported to Syracuse from Carthage. Marcellus placed his hopes only on the “fifth clone” - the pro-Roman Syracusans.

As was established, in one place the city wall was relatively low. But it was here that she was especially vigilantly guarded. In the besieged city, the usual three-day celebration in honor of Artemis was going on, wine was generously distributed to the people.

Late at night, a Roman detachment of a thousand soldiers entered the city. The panic began. However, Ahradina and the island of Ortigia were not going to give up.

While negotiations were underway in the Roman camp, clashes began in Syracuse itself. In this situation, Marcellus began the assault on Achradina and landed troops on Ortygia. Now the capture has been successful. He gave Akhradin to be plundered. Titus Livius: “Many disgusting examples of malice have been revealed, many of greed.” During this orgy of violence and robbery, Archimedes died, busy drawing on the sand. Livy says that the Roman soldier did not know who he was facing, and Marcellus was allegedly upset by this death: he was concerned about the burial of the great scientist, and protected his relatives from violence.

Ortygia. Modern look.

Plutarch gives three stories about the death of Archimedes.

According to the first, Archimedes was busy drawing and did not pay attention to the Roman soldiers. When one of them demanded him to Marcellus, Archimedes said that he had not yet solved the problem, and the angry warrior stabbed him to death. The second one is similar to the first one. And the third tells that Archimedes was going to Marcellus with his instruments, when the soldiers, mistaking them for treasures, killed him for the purpose of robbery.

Zonarra tells the following: "The Romans killed many others and Archimedes." Marcellus did not order him to spare the scientist, did not grieve over his death, and, moreover, did not punish anyone.

Marcellus, who unleashed robberies and murders in captured Syracuse, may have considered it necessary to express sadness over the death of Archimedes: it was unprofitable for the Romans, who needed the support of the Greeks, to appear in the role of murderers and rapists exterminating the best representatives of Hellenic thought. The comparison with Hannibal, who had Greek writers on his staff, was extremely unpleasant.

Cicero says that Marcellus dedicated one of Archimedes’ “spheres”, celestial globes, to the Temple of Courage, and took the other for himself: this relic was passed down in his family from generation to generation. A sad relic - the creation of a brilliant man you killed.

Marcellus.

However, in Syracuse captured by Rome, mentioning the name of Archimedes - the uncompromising enemy of Rome - was apparently unsafe. His grave was abandoned and forgotten. Only Cicero already in the 1st century. It was with great difficulty that I was able to find her.

Archimedes Square in Syracuse.

It's her. Fountain of Artemis, in whose honor the festival was held.

A statue of Archimedes with a bronze hyberbolic mirror, with a system of which he allegedly burned the Roman fleet. But that is another story.

Archimedes was an ancient Greek inventor, mathematician, mechanic and engineer who lived in the 3rd century BC (287 - 212 BC).

Not much is known about his life, since almost all the authors who conveyed his biography themselves lived much later.

As a result, the biography of Archimedes is filled with legends, some of which have become very popular.

Brief biography of Archimedes

Archimedes was born in Syracuse, one of the first Greek colonies on the island of Sicily. It is possible that his father was the famous Phidias, an astronomer and mathematician. Putarch also reports that Archimedes was a close relative of Hiero II, the tyrant of Syracuse.

Being related to such celebrities, Archimedes was able to receive an excellent education: he studied in Alexandria, which at that time was famous as a center of learning. After training, he returned to his homeland and could fully engage in science, since he did not need funds.

Archimedes' inventions

Archimedes' screw, or auger, is used to lift and transport loads and bail out water. This device is still used today (for example, in Egypt).
Various types of cranes, which were based on blocks and levers.
The “Celestial Sphere” was the world’s first planetarium, with the help of which it was possible to observe the movement of the sun, moon and five then known planets.
A number close to the number P is the so-called “Archimedean number”: 3 1/7; Archimedes himself indicated the accuracy of the approximation of this number. To solve this problem, he built a circle with 96-gons inscribed and circumscribed around it, the sides of which he then measured.
Discovery of the fundamental law of physics in general and hydrostatics in particular. This law is named after him and consists of the relationship between the buoyant force, volume and weight of a body immersed in a liquid.
Being the first theorist of mechanics, Archimedes introduced thought experiments into it. The first such experiments were his proofs of the law of the lever and Archimedes' law.

Defense of Syracuse

In 212, Syracuse was besieged by the Romans. But they could not capture the city for a long time. Legends say that the long defense became possible thanks to one resident of the city - Archimedes. He built throwing machines that destroyed the Roman army with heavy shells, and cranes that lifted enemy ships and sank them.

Archimedes screw photo

It is also reported how Archimedes, using mirrors and shields polished to a shine, set fire to Roman ships, focusing the sun's rays on them. There is an opinion that the ships were set on fire by burning shells thrown using the same throwing machines, and the focused rays of the sun served only as a sight.

Archimedes blocks and levers photo

Mentions of these weapons are mere legends, but in recent years experiments have been carried out to determine whether these inventions could actually exist. In 2005, scientists reproduced the cranes, which turned out to be fully functional. And in 1973, Greek scientist Ioannis Sakkas set fire to a plywood model of a Roman ship using a combination of mirrors.

Archimedes' inventions protecting Syracuse photo

However, scientists continue to doubt the existence of “mirror” weapons in Syracuse, since none of the ancient authors mentions it; information about it appeared only in the early Middle Ages - from the 6th century author Anthemius of Trallia. Despite the heroic - and ingenious - defense, Syracuse was eventually conquered, and Archimedes died that same year.

There are many versions about the death of the scientist, but most of them agree that Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier while he was sitting near his house and thinking about the drawings.

Perhaps, when you hear the word inventor or something similar, the name Archimedes often comes to mind. This ancient thinker was truly an outstanding inventor and left a significant number of discoveries that influenced the development of all mankind in the future.

Archimedes was born in 287 BC on the island of Sicily in the capital - Syracuse. He was born into a rather noble family, his father himself was a mathematician, and he was also known to the tyrant of that city, Hieron the Second. Both of them noticed a penchant for knowledge in the boy from an early age and sent Archimedes as a teenager to study in Alexandria in Egypt, where there was the largest library, which Herostratus later burned to become famous.

After studying, during which he met many learned men of his time and learned advanced ideas, Archimedes returned to his homeland and actually entered the service of Hieron. The tyrant wants in every possible way for Archimedes to begin developing all sorts of military innovations for the island, but the young scientist adheres to peaceful views and only wants to study the world. So, Archimedes remains on the island and begins to make his discoveries, many of which turn out to be the result of work with Hiero, for example, it was he who wanted the young mathematician to determine the composition of the crown, but without damaging the object itself.

It was then that the invention appeared about the displacement of bodies of different volumes of water, with identical mass. In addition, Archimedes made many discoveries in mathematics, which were no less than a couple of thousand years ahead of the era. That's right, some ideas, such as semi-regular polyhedra or the use of parabolas and hyperbolas to solve equations, were only appreciated and developed by scientists in modern times, after the Middle Ages.

In 212, Syracuse came under attack from Roman troops. The Second Punic War was then underway and Sicily was at a disadvantage between the empire and Carthage. Archimedes made many military inventions in order to defend his own city (throwing guns, reflecting copper plates and much more), however, Syracuse fell, and Archimedes died at the hands of a Roman soldier.

Biography 2

The exact biography of Archimedes, unfortunately, is unknown. Scientists and archaeologists from different eras cited different facts from his life, but they are also based on the works of people who lived much later than Archimedes. According to the most common version, the future mathematician was born in 287 BC. Place of birth was Syracuse (island of Sicily). The boy's father, an astronomer and mathematician, sent his son to study in Alexandria. The favorite place of the future physicist and mathematician was the library of Alexandria, where he studied the works and writings of Democritus, Eudoxus and many other scientists. There Archimedes makes acquaintances that he will carry throughout his life.

The young man loved mathematics from his youth. He devoted all his time to developments in the fields of arithmetic, algebra and geometry. Specialists in these fields were able to understand, classify and develop his ideas only by the 17th century. Archimedes solved complex equations by finding solutions graphically. He calculated the areas and volumes of various geometric figures. He collected and generalized already known calculation methods into unified principles and formulas. He derived and proved postulates and axioms, which not only have not been refuted, but have also been taken as a basis by modern scientists. One of his most important achievements in geometry, in his own words, was to find the surface area and volume of a sphere. He also derived formulas for calculating the volumes of a paraboloid, hyperboloid of revolution and ellipsoid. Before Archimedes, no mathematician had performed these calculations.

In addition to arithmetic, algebra and his beloved geometry, Archimedes applied his knowledge in the field of mechanics and physics, inventing and improving existing structures and mechanisms. For example, Archimedes improved the lever known before his birth, calculating its capabilities and putting it into practice in the port of Syracuse. Some devices and mechanisms based on the principle of leverage have since made hard work much easier.

Astronomy also did not leave him indifferent. The scientist was engaged in determining the distance between space objects, although he did this from an erroneous point of view. After all, in the 3rd century BC. The geocentric theory of the existence of the world was widespread. However, later Archimedes presented the heliocentric theory in one of his works.

A chain of mountains and a crater on the surface of the Moon, an asteroid, streets in several Russian cities, and a street in Amsterdam are named in his honor. Archimedes died during military operations during the Roman attack on Syracuse. For the victory of his homeland, the scientist created throwing mechanisms. Roman troops suffered significantly from these machines. It was decided to keep the city under siege. In 212 BC. Syracuse surrendered and Archimedes was killed.

Archimedes, an outstanding ancient Greek mathematician, inventor and engineer, lived in the 3rd century BC (287 - 212 BC).

Archimedes' friend Heraclides wrote a biography of the great scientist, but it was lost and now very little is known about his life. Little is known about his life also because almost all the authors who conveyed his biography themselves lived much later. As a result, the biography of Archimedes is filled with legends, some of which have become very popular. However, legends about Archimedes were created during his lifetime. Much less is known about the scientist’s personal life than about his science.

From the biography of Archimedes:

Archimedes was born in the city of Syracuse in Sicily. At that time it was one of the first ancient Greek colonies on the island of Sicily and was called Magna Graecia. It included the territory of modern Southern Italy and Sicily. + Archimedes was born in 287 BC. e. The date of birth is known from the words of the Byzantine historian John Tzetz. He lived in Constantinople in the 12th century. That is, almost one and a half thousand years after Archimedes. He also wrote that the famous ancient Greek mathematician lived 75 years. Such accurate information raises certain doubts, but we have to believe the ancient historian. The biography of Archimedes is known from the works of Titus, Cicero, Polybius, Livy, Vitruvius and other authors who lived later than the scientist himself. It is difficult to assess the reliability of these data.

Archimedes probably spent his childhood in Syracuse. The scientist probably received his primary education from his father. His father, presumably, was the astronomer and mathematician Phidias. Plutarch also claimed that the scientist was a close relative of the ruler of Syracuse, Hiero II.

Being related to such celebrities, Archimedes was able to receive an excellent education: he studied in Alexandria, which at that time was famous as a center of learning. Alexandria of Egypt was for several centuries the cultural and scientific center of the civilized Ancient World. There Archimedes met and became friends with many other great scientific figures of his time.

Bust of Archimedes

It was in Alexandria that a young man striving for knowledge established friendly relations with the mathematician and astronomer Conon of Samos and the astronomer, mathematician and philologist Erastothenes of Cyrene - these were famous scientists of that time. Archimedes struck up a strong friendship with them. It continued throughout my life, and was expressed in correspondence.

Also within the walls of the Library of Alexandria, Archimedes became acquainted with the works of such famous geometers as Eudoxus and Democritus. He also learned a lot of other useful knowledge. After training, he returned to his homeland and could fully engage in science, since he did not need funds. In his homeland in Syracuse, Archimedes quickly established himself as an intelligent and gifted person, and lived long years, enjoying the respect of others, and lived there until the end of his life.

Nothing is known about his wife and children, but there is no doubt about his studies in Alexandria, where the famous Library of Alexandria was located.

Archimedes died during the Second Punic War, when Roman troops captured Syracuse after a 2-year siege. The Roman commander was Marcus Claudius Marcellus. According to Plutarch, he ordered that Archimedes be found and brought to him. A Roman soldier came to the house of an outstanding mathematician while he was pondering mathematical formulas. The soldier demanded to immediately go with him and meet with Marcellus. But the mathematician brushed off the obsessive Roman, saying that he must first complete the work. The soldier was indignant and stabbed the smartest resident of Syracuse with a sword.

There is also a version that claims that Archimedes was killed right on the street while he was carrying mathematical instruments in his hands. The Roman soldiers decided that these were valuable objects and stabbed the mathematician to death. But be that as it may, the death of this man outraged Marcellus, since his order was violated. There are other versions of this story, but they agree that the ancient Roman politician and military leader Marcellus was extremely upset by the death of the scientist and, uniting with both the citizens of Syracuse and his own subjects, gave Archimedes a magnificent funeral.

140 years after these events, the famous Roman orator Cicero arrived in Sicily. He tried to find the tomb of Archimedes, but none of the local residents knew where it was. Finally, the grave was found in a dilapidated state in the bushes on the outskirts of Syracuse. The gravestone depicted a ball and a cylinder inscribed in it. Poems were engraved underneath them. However, this version does not have any documentary evidence.

In the early 60s of the 20th century, an ancient grave was also discovered in the courtyard of the Panorama Hotel in Syracuse. The hotel owners began to claim that this was the burial place of the great mathematician and inventor of antiquity. But again, they did not provide any convincing evidence. In a word, to this day it is unknown where Archimedes is buried and in what place his grave is located.

Scientific activities and inventions of Archimedes:

The ancient Greek physicist, mathematician and engineer Archimedes made many geometric discoveries, laid the foundations of hydrostatics and mechanics, and created inventions that served as the starting point for the further development of science. +Discoveries in the field of mathematics were the scientist’s real passion. According to Plutarch, Archimedes forgot about food and self-care when he was on the verge of another invention in this area. The main direction of his mathematical research was the problems of mathematical analysis.

Also, an outstanding mathematician laid the foundations of differential calculus. From a geometric point of view, he studied the possibility of determining the tangent to a curved line, and from a physical point of view, the speed of a body at any moment in time. The scientist examined a flat curve known as the Archimedean spiral. He found the first generalized way to find tangents to a hyperbola, parabola and ellipse. From here we can safely say that this man was ahead of mathematical science by 2 thousand years. Only in the seventeenth century were scientists able to fully understand and reveal all the ideas of Archimedes, which reached those times in his surviving works. The scientist often refused to describe his inventions in books, which is why not every formula he wrote has survived to this day.

The scientist also actively developed mechanical structures. He developed and outlined a detailed theory of the lever and effectively used this theory in practice, although the invention itself was known even before him. Block-lever mechanisms were made in the port of Syracuse. These devices made it easier to lift and move heavy loads, speeding up and optimizing port operations.

He also invented a screw that was used to bail out water. His “Archimedes screw” is still used in Egypt. Archimedes created a theory about the balancing of equal bodies. He proved that a body immersed in a liquid is subject to a buoyant force equal to the weight of the displaced liquid. This idea came to him in the bath. Its simplicity so shocked the outstanding mathematician and inventor that he jumped out of the bath and, dressed as Adam, ran through the streets of Syracuse shouting “Eureka,” which means “found.” Subsequently, this proof was called Archimedes' law. +The theoretical research of a scientist in the field of mechanics is of great importance. Based on the proof of the law of leverage, he began to write the work “On the Equilibrium of Plane Figures.” The proof is based on the axiom that equal bodies on equal shoulders will necessarily balance. Archimedes followed the same principle of constructing a book - starting with the proof of his own law - when writing the work “On the Floating of Bodies”. This book begins with a description of Archimedes' well-known law.

There is a legend associated with Archimedes' law. One day, the scientist was allegedly approached by Hiero II, who doubted that the weight of the crown made for him corresponded to the weight of the gold that was provided for its creation. Archimedes made two ingots of the same weight as the crown: silver and gold. Next, he placed these ingots in turn in a vessel with water and noted how much its level increased. The scientist then placed the crown in the vessel and discovered that the water did not rise to the level to which it rose when each of the ingots was placed in the vessel. Thus, it was discovered that the master had kept some of the gold for himself.

Archimedes became the inventor of the first planetarium. When this device moves, the following is observed: the rising of the Moon and the Sun; the movement of the five planets; disappearance of the Moon and Sun beyond the horizon; phases and eclipses of the moon.

His contemporaries also composed numerous legends about the gifted mathematician, physicist and engineer. Legend says that one day Hiero II decided to present Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, with a multi-deck ship as a gift. It was decided to name the watercraft "Syracuse", but it could not be launched. In this situation, the ruler again turned to Archimedes. From several blocks he built a system with the help of which the launch of a heavy vessel was possible with one movement of the hand. According to legend, during this movement Archimedes said: “Give me a point of support, and I will turn the world over.”

In 212 BC, during the Second Punic War, the Romans began to storm Syracuse. At this time, Archimedes was already an elderly man, but his mind did not lose its sharpness. Archimedes actively used engineering knowledge to help his people achieve victory. As Plutarch wrote, under his leadership, throwing machines were built, with the help of which the soldiers of Syracuse threw heavy stones at their opponents. When the Romans rushed to the walls of the city, hoping that they would not come under fire, another invention of Archimedes - light throwing devices with close action - helped the Greeks pelt them with cannonballs. Roman galleys scurrying around the port of Syracuse were attacked by special cranes with grappling hooks (Archimedes' claw). With the help of these hooks, the besieged lifted ships into the air and threw them down from a great height. The ships, hitting the water, broke and sank. All these technological advances scared the invaders. So, thanks to the efforts of Archimedes, the Romans’ hope of storming the city failed. They abandoned the assault on the city and moved on to a long siege. In the fall of 212 BC, the colony was taken by the Romans as a result of treason. Archimedes was killed during this incident. According to one version, he was hacked to death by a Roman soldier, whom the scientist attacked for stepping on his drawing.

There is a legend that Archimedes ordered the shields to be polished to a mirror shine, and then arranged them in such a way that, reflecting the color of the sun, they focused it into powerful rays. They were sent to Roman ships, and they burned. Mentions of these weapons are mere legends, but in recent years experiments have been carried out to determine whether these inventions could actually exist. In 2005, scientists reproduced the cranes, which turned out to be fully functional. And in 1973, Greek scientist Ioannis Sakkas set fire to a plywood model of a Roman ship using a combination of mirrors. He created a cascade of 70 copper mirrors and used it to set fire to a plywood model of a ship, which was located 75 meters from the mirrors. So this legend could well have a practical basis.

However, scientists continue to doubt the existence of “mirror” weapons in Syracuse, since none of the ancient authors mentions it; information about it appeared only in the early Middle Ages - from the 6th century author Anthemius of Trallia. Despite a heroic - and ingenious - defense, Syracuse was eventually conquered.

Legacy of Archimedes:

Archimedes wrote his works in Doric Greek, the dialect spoken in Syracuse. But the originals have not survived. They have come to us in retellings by other authors. All this was systematized and collected into a single collection by the Byzantine architect Isidore of Miletus, who lived in Constantinople in the 6th century. This collection was translated into Arabic in the 9th century, and in the 12th century it was translated into Latin.

During the Renaissance, the works of the Greek thinker were published in Basel in Latin and Greek. Based on these works, Galileo Galilei invented hydrostatic balances at the end of the 16th century.

*Archimedes screw, or auger, is used for lifting and transporting loads and scooping out water. This device is still used today (for example, in Egypt).

*Various types of cranes, which were based on blocks and levers.

*"Celestial Sphere" is the world's first planetarium, with the help of which it was possible to observe the movement of the sun, moon and five then known planets.

*The number close to the number P is the so-called “Archimedean number”: 3 1/7; Archimedes himself indicated the accuracy of the approximation of this number. To solve this problem, he built a circle with 96-gons inscribed and circumscribed around it, the sides of which he then measured.

*Discovery of the fundamental law of physics in general and hydrostatics in particular. This law is named after him and consists of the relationship between the buoyant force, volume and weight of a body immersed in a liquid.

*As the first theorist of mechanics, Archimedes introduced thought experiments into it. The first such experiments were his proofs of the law of the lever and Archimedes' law.

*In 1906, Danish professor Johan Ludwig Heiberg discovered a 174-page prayer collection in Constantinople, written in the 13th century. The scientist found out that it was a palimpsest, that is, text written over old text. At that time, this was common practice, since the tanned goatskin from which the pages were made was very expensive. The old text was scraped off and new text was written on top of it. It turned out that the scraped work was a copy of an unknown treatise by Archimedes. The copy was written in the 10th century. Using ultraviolet and x-ray light, this hitherto unknown work was read. These were works on equilibrium, on measuring the circumference of a sphere and a cylinder, and on floating bodies. Currently, this document is kept in the Baltimore City Museum (Maryland, USA).

*Works of Archimedes: Quadrature of the parabola, On the ball and cylinder, On spirals, On conoids and spheroids, On the equilibrium of plane figures, Epistle to Eratosthenes on the method, On floating bodies, Measurement of the circle, Psammit, Stomachion, Archimedes' problem on bulls, Treatise on construction around the ball of a solid figure with fourteen bases, Book of Lemmas, Book on the construction of a circle divided into seven equal parts, Book on touching circles.

Archimedes: interesting facts

1.Archimedes did not leave any students after himself, because he did not want to create his own school and train successors.

2. Some of Archimedes’ calculations were repeated only fifteen hundred years later by Newton and Leibniz.

3. Some scientists claim that Archimedes was the inventor of the cannon. Thus, Leonardo da Vinci even drew a sketch of a steam cannon, the invention of which he attributed to the ancient Greek scientist. Plutarch wrote that during the siege of Syracuse, the Romans were fired upon by a device that resembled a long tube and “spitted out” cannonballs.

4. Archimedes’ friend Heraclides wrote a biography of the great scientist, but it was lost and now little is known about his life.

5. Some contemporaries considered Archimedes crazy. To demonstrate his skills, the scientist before Hieron pulled the triremes ashore using a system of pulleys.

6. The Roman commander Marcellus, commander of the siege of Syracuse, said: “We will have to stop the war against the geometer.”

7.Archimedes is considered one of the best mathematicians and inventors of all time.

9. According to some legends, during the capture of Syracuse, a special detachment of Romans was sent in search of the scientist, who were supposed to capture Archimedes and deliver him to the command. The scientist died only by an absurd accident.

10. Archimedes’ throwing machines could launch stones weighing up to 250 kg. At that time it was a unique combat vehicle.

11.Archimedes made the world's first planetarium.

12. Contemporaries considered Archimedes almost a demigod, and his military inventions terrified the Romans, who had never encountered anything like this before.

13.The well-known legend about mirrors that burned Roman ships has been repeatedly refuted. Most likely, the mirrors were used only to aim the ballistas, which fired incendiary shells at the Roman fleet. There is also an opinion that the Romans were forced to agree to a night assault on the city precisely because of the use of mirrors by the defenders of Syracuse.

14. The “Archimedes screw” was invented by the scientist in his youth and was intended for irrigating fields. Today, screws are used in many industries. And in Egypt they still supply water to the fields.

15. Archimedes considered mathematics his best friend.

Monument to Archimedes

photo from the Internet