Plutarch writes in his work on Marcellus, the Roman commander, about how Archimedes' engines of war were used against the Romans in the siege of 212 BC:. These were particularly effective in the defence of Syracuse when it was attacked by the Romans under the command of Marcellus. The reason for this was not a widespread interest in new mathematical ideas but rather that Archimedes had invented many machines which were used as engines of war. There are, in fact, quite a number of references to Archimedes in the writings of the time for he had gained a reputation in his own time which few other mathematicians of this period achieved. in writing to King Hiero, whose friend and near relation he was.Īgain evidence of at least his friendship with the family of King Hieron II comes from the fact that The Sandreckoner was dedicated to Gelon, the son of King Hieron. Plutarch tells us that Archimedes was related to King Hieron II of Syracuse (see for example ):-Īrchimedes. Other than in the prefaces to his works, information about Archimedes comes to us from a number of sources such as in stories from Plutarch, Livy, and others. so that those who claim to discover everything, but produce no proofs of the same, may be confuted as having pretended to discover the impossible. Apparently some of the mathematicians there had claimed the results as their own so Archimedes says that on the last occasion when he sent them theorems he included two which were false :.

He tells us that he was in the habit of sending them statements of his latest theorems, but without giving proofs. In the preface to On spirals Archimedes relates an amusing story regarding his friends in Alexandria. He regarded Conon of Samos, one of the mathematicians at Alexandria, both very highly for his abilities as a mathematician and he also regarded him as a close friend. Certainly he was completely familiar with the mathematics developed there, but what makes this conjecture much more certain, he knew personally the mathematicians working there and he sent his results to Alexandria with personal messages.

It is highly likely that, when he was a young man, Archimedes studied with the successors of Euclid in Alexandria. This is a pump, still used in many parts of the world. It is reported by some authors that he visited Egypt and there invented a device now known as Archimedes' screw. How our knowledge of Archimedes would be transformed if this lost work were ever found, or even extracts found in the writing of others.Īrchimedes was a native of Syracuse, Sicily.

A friend of Archimedes called Heracleides wrote a biography of him but sadly this work is lost. We know nothing else about Phidias other than this one fact and we only know this since Archimedes gives us this information in one of his works, The Sandreckoner. Biography Archimedes' father was Phidias, an astronomer.

Archimedes law