Archimedes Shared His Stories

Math. Each person reacts differently to that word. Some hear “Mental Abuse to Humans” or M.A.T.H., some cringe, while some accept the subject with open arms. Most however never see or hear the word “math” and then think about history. Each formula, equation, and System has a story; a story of hardships, accomplishments, failures, heartbreak, and love. It may be hard to believe that each formula can carry a story, but its very much true, and these stories still affect people today. Archimedes is one of the few Mathematicians who has shared his stories over many Science and Mathematical subjects. Archimedes is known for his work in Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, Astronomy, an inventor, and even a writer. Every story starts with a creator.

He invented Machines and principles during peace and during war, incredibly some of his inventions are still used today. Some of his inventions include the compound pully system, Planetarium, and war machines used as defensive strategies, and Archimedes Screw. Many Inventors believe Archimedes’ best invention was the planetarium. While there may not be no physical evidence that Archimedes’ Planetarium exist, The Greek mathematician Pappus of Alexandria explained in writing that Archimedes’ wrote a now-lost manuscript called On Sphere-Making. Pappus also explained that the On Sphere-Making was the only manuscript that Archimedes’’ wrote practical matters on. Because no physical trace of what Archimedes Planetarium survives one can only guess at what it might look like. Cicero describes the Planetarium as “Bronze contrivance”, while Claudian sees it as a “Sphere of glass”. (https://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/contents.html

During the conquest, Archimedes used his gift of mathematical and engineering ability to help defend the state. Perhaps one of the most legendary inventions was created, a mirror system that focused sun rays on the intruders, or in this case Roman, ships. (Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, p. 1p). Since this happened before ships were made with metal, the focused sun rays caused the intruders wooden ships to catch fire. Archimedes made extensive preparations for this battle, placing mechanical inventions that could be used as both defensive and offensive purposes inside the city, outside the city on the walls, in the watch towers, and even in the sea. Some of the defensive inventions included: projectile beams (beams were so large that it caused ships to sink) and a claw (the claw lifted the ship(s) up and then pulled the ship(s) downward into the sea. ( http://archimedespalimpsest.org/about/history/archimedes.php ) With the weapons used for close combat still locked away, Archimedes’ inventions won the first attempted