Archimedes Biography

Archimedes of Syracuse was an outstanding ancient Greek mathematician, inventor, physicist, engineer and also an astronomer. Although not much is known about his life, he is considered as one of the most eminent scientists and mathematicians of the classical era. He established strong foundations in the field of mathematics, physics, particularly in statics, hydrostatics and also explained the principle of the lever. In his lifetime, he made many incredible inventions such as designing innovative machines, including screw pumps, compound pulleys and siege machines. He is said to have anticipated modern calculus and analysis and derived a range of geometrical theorems, including the area of a circle, the surface area and volume of a sphere, and the area under a parabola. He applied the ‘method of exhaustion’ in calculating the area under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an endless series and gave a precise approximation of pi. He also identified the spiral that bears his name, designed formulae for the volumes of surfaces of revolution and also invented a technique for expressing extremely large numbers. While the inventions of Archimedes were known in the antiquity but his mathematical writings were little known. The first comprehensive compilation of his mathematical writings was not made until c. 530 AD by Isidore of Miletus. The commentaries on the works of Archimedes written by Eutocius in the sixth century AD opened them to a wider audience for the first time. Only a few copies of Archimedes' written work survived through the middle ages and became an influential source of ideas for scientists during the Renaissance. In addition to that, the discovery in 1906 of unknown works by Archimedes in the Archimedes Palimpsest has thrown new light into how he obtained mathematical results.