Birth: 287 BC, Syracuse, Sicily
Death: 212 BC, Syracuse, Sicily. He was killed by a Roman soldier during the looting of Syracuse.
Early Influences:
- Father, Phidias, was an astronomer
- Euclid, the Greek mathematician, was his teacher and mentor
- Was the personal friend of Hiero, King of Syracuse.
Education:
- Studied under Euclid at his school in Alexandria
- Was also self taught
Major Accomplishments:
- Proved the volume of a sphere is 2/3 the volume of a cylinder that circumscribes the sphere
- Proved the principle of the lever through geometry
- Credited with inventing the compound pulley
- Invented the hydraulic screw
- Invented the field of hydrostatics with the Archimedes' Principle
- Calculated the value of PI between 3 1/2 and 3 10/71
- Invented a miniature planetarium
- Greatest invention was Integral Calculus
Significance:
- Coined the phrase "Eureka! Eureka!" (I have found it!)
- Anticipated many of the discoveries of modern science
- Helped to protect Syracuse from invading armies with his inventions
- Considered to be one of the three greatest mathematicains of all time, along with Newton and Gauss
Contemporaries:
- Marcus Claudis Marcellus - Consul of Rome and conqueror of Syracuse
- Hannibal - Carthaginian general of the second Punic war
- Euclid - Father of Geometry
