Legend of Archimedes and a brief biography of the scientist

Greece is not in vain considered the cradle of Western culture, because it was on this blessed land, washed by warm waves of the Mediterranean Sea, lived and worked brilliant scientists. The list of names of people who laid the foundations of modern science could take more than one page. We will dwell on one of them - mathematics, physics, engineer. There are a lot of information about his really great mind, and the legend of Archimedes is known to every schoolboy. We will tell you what kind of person he is and what all generations of people owe him.

A little about the genius

The legend of Archimedes is undoubtedly interesting. But first we want to tell a little about the scientist himself. Biography of the famous Greek came to us in the exposition of such ancient authors as Titus Livius, Vitruvius, Cicero, Polybius, Plutarch. Each of them lived much later than Archimedes, therefore it can not be asserted that the events described by them are reliable.

The future genius was born in Syracuse, that in Sicily. Perhaps Archimedes was a relative of the ruler of the city of Hieron II. Passion for science he instilled in his father, Phidias, a famous astronomer and mathematician. And he studied in Alexandria, the largest cultural and scientific center of that time.

Long before the legend about Archimedes appeared, the genius met with outstanding people, Konon and Eratosthenes, with whom he then corresponded all his life. He spent hours in the famous library, in which over seven hundred thousand manuscripts were collected. It was in her that Archimedes had an opportunity to get acquainted with the works of Democritus and Eudoxus, which he often mentioned later in his writings.

Biographers say that after completing his studies, Archimedes returned to his native city, where he enjoyed an honor and did not need any means at all.

The scientist and the crown

There is not one legend about Archimedes, there are a lot of them, because the scientist now and then invented something, researched, created. The most popular of them is familiar to us from school. This is the legend about Archimedes about the crown. Let's briefly describe its essence.

Once the cruel king Hieron wanted to check whether the jeweler had deceived him, making for him a golden crown. He ordered the scientist to determine whether his decoration was really made of the purest precious metal. The difficulty was in determining the volume of the crown, since it had an irregular shape. Reflecting on the task, Archimedes found a way to deal with it: immerse the product in water and measure the volume of the liquid displaced by it. At the same time, as the legend tells about Archimedes, the genius exclaimed "Eureka!", Which in translation means "found". And in the science of hydrostatics, this discovery was included as the law of Archimedes.

How to turn the Earth?

But we also know another legend about Archimedes (photo below). Biographers say that the ruler of Syracuse ordered to build a heavy multi-deck ship, which was intended as a gift to Ptolemy, the Egyptian king. But it could not be launched into the water, and here Archimedes came to help. He built a whole system of blocks around the ship and, using the power of the lever, easily coped with the task. It was then that the aphorism of the inventor was born: "Give me a point of support, and I will turn the world over".

Saved Syracuse

Amazing inventions of the scientist saved his native city from destruction. This is another legend about Archimedes (you probably studied it in physics). So, according to biographers of the engineering genius, in 212 BC. E. Roman legions besieged Syracuse. At the time of the second Punic war our hero was about 75 years old. But his mind was still quick and inquisitive.

So, Archimedes developed the drawings of powerful propelling machines, which threw the troops of commander Marcellus with stones. Fleeing from such a shelling, the Roman army rushed to the walls of Syracuse. But there they also awaited an unpleasant surprise - light propellers. In addition, the townspeople (probably not without the help of a scientist) built cranes that seized the ships, lifted them up, and then threw them down and sank. The invaders retreated.

Another version says that the fleet of the Eternal City during the siege was burnt by fire, which arose when using mirrors or incendiary mixtures. However, if the previous legends were checked by modern scientists and confirmed, the fire from Syracuse is still considered a beautiful fairy tale.

End of life

As a result, the treachery of Syracuse was nevertheless captured by the Romans in the same year. Archimedes, who saved the city before, was killed. There are four versions of the scientist's death, but they all boil down to the fact that the soldiers were killed by the old man. Warlord Marcellus was very upset when he heard about the death of a famous person, and arranged a worthy funeral for him. The murderers were executed. Today in Syracuse you can see the stone tomb of Archimedes, built two centuries after his death. But the scientist continues to live in the hearts of people as the most famous inventor of the past, as the savior of his native city and a devoted scholar of science.