The great Greek scholar Archimedes made many landmark discoveries. He was the first to think of many fundamental things and concepts that seem habitual today. In those days, his discoveries were a real breakthrough, and this is a fact that cannot be denied. Archimedes did more for the progress of science than most scientists, both before and after him. His eminent mind brought him loud glory during his lifetime.
The great scientist was born in 287 BC, that is, more than 2300 years ago. He was born in the city of Syracuse, which was located on the island of Sicily. Now these lands are part of Italy. Archimedes’ most famous discovery is the connection between the immersion of the body in a liquid and the volume of the fluid being displaced. It was he who made the world’s first planetarium. He gained a lot of knowledge from the Library of Alexandria, in which at that moment more than 700 thousand manuscripts were kept. The ancient Greek historian Plutarch argued that his father had instilled the love of sciences to Archimedes. When Archimedes was asked who his best friend was, he answered “mathematics”.
The famous device “Archimedes screw” was invented by him in his youth, and it found its use in irrigation fields. Archimedes screw to this day is used for this purpose in some countries. He stands in any Soviet meat grinder. Spiral shaft – this is it. Archimedes was the first to put forward ideas regarding the measurement of the distance to other celestial bodies. And this is many hundreds of years before Copernicus and Galileo, who defended the heliocentric system of the world. Archimedes belongs to the well-known maxim about the possibility of moving the Earth in the presence of a fulcrum. Leonardo da Vinci invented the steam gun, stating that the original idea belongs to Archimedes. This version is also supported by the fact that Plutarch, in his description of the siege of Syracuse, mentions a certain long pipe that threw nuclei at the enemy. He invented a way to solve cubic equations.
The concept of “center of gravity” was introduced to science by Archimedes. In his native Syracuse, Archimedes installed a complex of levers and blocks, which greatly facilitated the unloading of ships arriving at the port. He also invented catapults capable of throwing quarter-ton stone shells at the enemy. During the Punic Wars, the Romans, after a long siege, took Syracuse by storm. The city lasted so long because of the inventions of Archimedes. During the siege, the scientist was killed by a Roman soldier who violated the direct order of the command in no way to kill him. The only detailed biography of Archimedes was written by his friend Heraclides, but it was lost. According to one of the unconfirmed legends, the final assault on Syracuse took place at night, since during the day Archimedes henchmen blinded Roman soldiers with the help of mirrors, preventing them from effectively fighting.
