Archimedes was said to be the greatest mathematical genius of
all time. His achievements were phenomenal both in theories and in practical
applications. He was a native of Syracuse in Sicily which was a Greek colony. He
went to Alexandria to study mathematics. There his teachers were the students
of Euclid. Though his versatile mind touched many fields, he always considered
himself a geometer. He made many mechanical inventions, but said they were all
“the diversions of geometry of play”.
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| Archimedes |
The laws of
hydrostatics
He was
acknowledged as the founder of two branches of physics namely statics and
hydrostatics. According to a traditional story, the fundamental, concept of
hydrostatics came to him while bathing. He felt that his body was losing weight
in water. He found out that the loss of weight was equal to the weight of water
displaced by his body. He formulated his famous law: “Anybody immersed in a
liquid must lose weight equal to the weight of the liquid displaced”. He knows
that a pound of silver occupies nearly twice as much space as a pound of gold.
Thus the famous Archimedes principle
was born and it said that every substance has characteristic density or specific
gravity. His theory was connected with calculating the stability of floating
bodies. It is called the idea of equilibrium. This too had its practical
application. It was used while designing ships that would not turn over.
The laws of the lever
and pulleys
According to the traditional tale, Archimedes once said to King Hiero: give me a place to stand on and I will move the earth”. The king was
impressed but was slightly sceptical. He asked for a demonstration. Plutarch narrates
the episode thus: The king had a large ship in the dock and it needed thousands
of men to draw it out. Loading her with many passengers, Archimedes drew the
ship in a straight line, as smoothly and evenly as if she had been on the sea. This
he did all alone holding a pulley in his hand. It was a combination of pulleys
now known as a pulley-block. His laws of the lever are the basis of the operation
of elevators and cranes.
The screw of Archimedes
Archimedes devised several ingenious contrivances. One of the
best known was a form of pump, called the ‘screw of Archimedes’. It is a device
for raising water. It became very useful for irrigation. It seemed to make the water run uphill.
The first planetarium
He invented a sphere to demonstrate the motions of the
planets. This may be called the first planetarium. It was actually seen by Cicero, wrote that it represented the motions of the sun and moon so well that an eclipse
could be demonstrated.
War machine
Most
spectacular of his inventions were those designed to defend Syracuse against
the invading Roman forces. He made a colossal catapult. Plutarch says: it hurled immense
masses of stone that came down with incredible noise and violence. No man could
stand against it”. He also made a crane that caught the enemy ships, hoisted
them high in the air and then flung them back into the sea. He made iron beaks
that seized ships and smashed them into jutting cliffs. The Roman legions
fled in panic from the devastation wrought by Archimedes, war machines. Thus Syracuse
was saved.
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