A Study About Archimedes History Essay

A Study About Archimedes History Essay Archimedes, also known as Archimedes of Syracuse was born in Syracuse, Sicily in 287 BC. The exact date of his birth is not known, but the commonly accepted date of 287 BC derives from a statement given by 12th century historian John Tzetzes in that Archimedes had lived for 75 years. Sadly like his exact date of birth, the exact details of the life of Archemides have been lost to history. In one of Archimedes works entitled The Sand Reckoner, he gives his father’s name as Phidias and says he was an astronomer. Other than this one account, nothing more is definitively known about his parents or family history. The Greek historian and biographer Plutarch claimed Archimedes was related to the ruler of Syracuse, King Hiero II, in his work Parallel Lives, though whether this is accurate has never been substantiated. History lost what could have been the greatest chance to know the definitive history of Archimedes when a biography of Archimedes written by one of his friend was los t to history like so much else relating to Archimedes life, leaving historian to have to piece together Archimedes life from what little accounts survived. Simple things like whether Archimedes ever married or had children may never been known. It is believed that Archimedes may have studied in Alexandria, Egypt in his youth, where he would have been contemporaries with the likes of Greek astronomer and mathematicians Conon of Samos and Eratosthenes of Cyrene. This conclusion is reached from Archimedes himself referring to Conon of Samos as his friend, and two of his works having had introductions addressed to Eratosthenes. Archimedes died 212BC when Roman forces captured the city of Syracuse during the Second Punic War. Like nearly everything else about Archimedes life, the exact circumstances of his death are not known for sure. The Greek historian Plutarch presented three different accounts of Archimedess final moments. In one version Archimedes was contemplating a mathematical diagram when the city was captured. Archimedes was commanded by a Roman soldier to come and meet the general of the Roman forces but Archimedes declined, saying that he couldnt leave until he had finished his work. The soldier was so enraged by his refusal that he slew Archimedes with his sword. In another version the Roman soldier had intended to kill Archimedes, and despite Archimedes plea to him to allow him to finish what he was working on so as to not leave his work eternally incomplete, the soldier kills him anyway. In yet a third account by Plutarch, Archimedes was carrying mathematical instruments, and was killed by the Roman soldier because he thought that they were gold. The general of the Roman army was reportedly greatly angered by the news of Archimedes death, as he considered him to have been a valuable scientific asset. Archimedes was laid to rest in a tomb with a sculpture of a sphere and a cylinder of the same height and diameter, an illustration of his mathematical proof that the volume and surface area of the sphere are two thirds that of the cylinder including its bases.