Informative Essay Sample on Archimedes: The Key Information to Know

Example essay on Archimedes

Archimedes was born on 287 B.C. in Syracuse, Sicily. He was the son of Phidias, an astronomer. Archimedes spent his entire life in his birthplace, he was a master in mathematics, and he spent most of his time contemplating new problems to solve, some days he got so involved in his work he completely forgot to eat. He didn’t have blackboards or paper like we do today, so he used dust on the ground, to ashes from an extinguished fire to do his work. Most of his fame came from his relationship with the king of Syracuse, Hiero, and Gelon, the king’s son, Archimedes may have been related to the monarch, he made a hobby out of solving the king’s most complex problems. One day the king ordered a crown to be made out of gold, when it was fashioned, it had the right look and weight, but he suspected that it was not made entirely of gold. He asked Archimedes to solve it, while he was considering the problem; he got into his bathtub, and saw that the amount of water that overflowed the bath was the equivalent to how much of his body was underwater. This observation is known as Archimedes’ Principal, and this gave him the resources to figure out the king’s dilemma, he was so excited, he ran through the streets naked screaming “Eureka, Eureka!” which in English, translates to “I have found it!” He then found out that the goldsmith was a fraud and brought him to justice. Throughout the rest of Archimedes life, he spent his time making inventions to improve the quality of life. Nearing the end of his life, his friend Hiero, the king, asked him to create weapons to defend the city. During an attack, Archimedes had invented a catapult, cranes to lift ships out of the sea, and large mirrors that reflect the suns light to burn attacking ships. After an eight month battle, the weapons fell and the city was taken, Archimedes was slain by a Roman soldier, he died on 212 B.C. When he was buried, the townspeople placed on his tombstone, the figure of a sphere inside a cylinder and the 2:3 ratio of the volumes between them, this was what he considered to be his greatest achievement.