ArkhimedesArchimedes

(circa 287-212 BCE) The greatest Greek mathematician in history.

Arkhimedes was also an astronomer, a physicist and a renowned inventor; it is assumed that he was educated in Alexandria, Egypt; he eventually came into the service of Hieron II of Syracuse where he measured the purity of Hieron’s crown using the principal of specific gravity, i.e. he immersed the king’s crown in water and then immersed the same weight of pure gold to see if they displaced the same amount of water; if the crown displaced less water it would have to be an alloy and not pure gold.

Arkhimedes invented the lever and is credited with saying, “Give me a place to stand and I will move the earth.”

His works on circles, cylinders and spheres still survive; his tomb was discovered by Cicero near one of the gates of Syracuse circa 75 BCE.