ARCHIMEDES: most important inventions

The Ancient Greece he had an enormous number of thinkers of different kinds who helped a classical society to become one of the most modern in the entire Ancient Age. Among all these Greek geniuses we must talk about Archimedes, a mathematician and inventor who influenced many of the later philosophers of Ancient Greece. To know the work of Archimedes in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to talk about the Archimedes most important inventions.

Archimedes, born in Syracuse in 287 BC. C. and died in the same city in 212 a. C., he was a inventor, mathematician, engineer and astronomer that he lived in the time of classical Greece. He is considered to be one of the most influential people in the Ancient Ages, as his theories on the lever and mathematics helped mankind to advance much faster.

For many, it was the greatest mathematician in all history of humanity, creating the so-called exhaustive method and being the first to approach the number pi. His thought was that everything in this life could be seen through mathematicians, creating a philosophical current based on this idea that was maintained in Greece and especially in Syracuse.

Archimedes' life is largely a mystery, as there are not many reliable sources on his life. It is thought that Archimedes was born in Syracuse at a time when it was part of Magna Graecia, and that when he reached maturity he went to Alexandria to study. After finishing his studies he returned to Syracuse to spend the rest of his life studying mathematics.

It is said that during the second punic war, war that faced Rome and Carthage, Archimedes he was killed by a roman soldier during the siege of Syracuse. It is said that the order of the Roman general had been not to kill Archimedes, since the mathematician had a reputation for have created wonderful weapons to defend the city, but the Roman soldier did not obey the order and killed Archimedes.

The Archimedean contributions were very numerous and they appeared in many areas, but not all of them were equally important, there were some inventions whose scope was greater. In this section of the lesson we must talk about those inventions and discoveries whose influence was the greatest. Here are the most important inventions of Archimedes.

Archimedes principle

Possibly Archimedes' best known discovery is the principle that bears his name, being the one that says that a body totally or partially submerged in water suffers a vertical push equal to the weight that is dislodged. The discovery of this principle is said to have been due to the request of King Hiero II, who asked Archimedes to discover if the crown he had commissioned was only of gold or of some poorer material also. Not being able to melt the crown, the mathematician had to find another way, and it is said that he was bathing when he realized how to measure the crown, going naked into the street shouting "Eureka" for his finding.

Syracuse

King Hiero II is said to have asked Archimedes for the creation of a huge ship which would be called Syracuse. It is said of the ship that it was the largest of all classical times, being capable of holding more than 500 people and even dividing it into several zones. So that the ship could navigate the mathematician created the so-called Archimedean screw, being an invention created for pumping water and served so that the ship did not fill with water. The Archimedean screw is still used today to pump different fluids.

Archimedes Claw

The claw It was one of the inventions that Archimedes created during the Roman attack on Syracuse that would end the life of the mathematician. It is said that it was thanks to these defense inventions that Syracuse was able to endure for so many years the Roman attack, moving from what seemed like a simple assault to a siege that lasted for months. Archimedes invented catapults, scorpions and other weapons, but it was his claw that had the greatest relevance. The Archimedean Claw was a large crane with a metal claw that was capable of lifting Roman ships into flooding.

To conclude this lesson on the most important inventions of Archimedes, we must talk about those inventions of the Greek mathematician less known but just as important. Some of these creations are the following:

• He was the first to explain the lever system, although he did not create it. All later Greek lever inventions are thought to stem from Archimedes' idea.
• He designed the hoist that allowed sailors to lift large objects, being other creations that are still used today, proving to be ahead of his time.
• He created a primitive odometer, which made it possible to calculate the distance traveled. Its use at the time was basically to mark the distance a catapult reached when attacking.
• He improved and created a lot of siege weapons like catapults and scorpions. His great skill in this area made even the Romans want to trap him into creating weapons for them.
• He created a planetary that allowed to see the movements of a great quantity of celestial bodies, and that even today surprises by the complexity of its creation.