Biography

My name is Archimedes and I was born in the seaport city of Syracuse. I was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Some consider me one of the greastest mathamatician of all times and rank me with Newton and Leibniz. My father's name was Phidias(The Sand Reckoner) and I am related to King Hieron II of Syracuse. As a young man I studied Alexandria, Egypt was friends with Conan of Samon, a very skilled and highly respected mathematician. Another close friend, Heracleides, wrote a lengthy biography about me but it was lost years later and now most of my life is know only to me.

Famous Works

---Archimedes Principle of Hydrostatics: This states that a body immersed in a fluid experiences a buoyant force equal to the weight of the displaced fluid. I first found this principle when I was taking a bath. While taking a bath, I noticed that the level of the water rose when I got in. I suddenly realized that I could use this to find out how dense an object is. I became so excited that I rushed out into the streets naked shouting "Eureka!" which means "I have found it!"



---The Claw of Archimedes: I designed this weapon to defend the city of Syracuse. The claw was a crane-like arm from which a gigantic large grappling hook was suspended. The claw would drop onto the enemy ships then the arm would swing up, lifting the ship out of the water and sometimes sinking it.

--- Pie: I used the method of exhaustion to approximate and extremely accurate value of pie which is between 3.1429 - 3.1408.

---Sphere and Cylinder: I proved that the volume and surface area of the sphere is 2/3rds of that of a cylinder, including its bases. This is one of my favorite mathamatical proofs and and probably one of the greatest achievements I have ever done.

Books and Writings

• The Quadrature of the Parabola
• Stomachion
• The Sand Reckoner(In this book I measured how much sand could fit inside the universe, and I came to conclude that 8×10^63; or eight vigitillions.)
• Archemedies' cattle problem

Death of Archimedes

Archimedes was sadly killed at the age of 75 during the Seige of Syracuse. The Roman General Marcus Claudius Marcellus was the commander of the attack. Although Marcellus admired Archimedes greatly and gave strict orders for him not to be harmed, he was struck down by roman soldier. According to Plutarch, Archimedes was solving a mathematical problem when the roman soldier asked him to come and meet Marcellus. Archimedes refused, saying he needed to finish the problem he was working on. The soldier became so enraged he killed Archimedes on the spot with his sword. His tomb was later found near the Agrigentine gate in Syracuse with the sphere and cylinder placed at his tomb by his request.