History Of Archimedes
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Archimedes was born in Syracuse, and he was educated in Alexandria. He studied under the famous mathematician called Euclid. Archimedes is best known for the term eureka because he screamed eureka when he found the secret behind the relationship between pressure and mass. Eureka in Greek language means I found it.
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A famous story suggests that the King Hieron of Syracuse had a deep suspicion that the crown he had ordered for himself from a goldsmith was not made out of pure gold. He then asked Archimedes to find out a way where he can measure the true value of the crown. Archimedes thought about it for a long time, but he did not find any solution. One day when he stepped into the bath he saw the water overflowing as he stepped in. He suddenly got the idea that by measuring the water that falls over when it is immersed in water, one can measure the weight of the object. So, he screamed eureka and started running on the streets of Syracuse naked. This was the most famous incident in Greece during Archimedes time.
Archimedes made several other inventions after he found out how to measure mass of a substance. He discovered how to measure surface and volume, and also how to decide what pi is. He also defined what the lever is, and how it works. In Egypt, he invented the hydraulic screw which brought the water from a lower to a higher level. After the Romans conquered Sicily, he brought several inventions like the catapult, and also a device that used mirrors to focus the sunlight and make fire.
Archimedes was killed in 212 BC during the sack of Syracuse by a Roman soldier. It is believed that he was 75 years old at that time.
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