Archimedes: Give Me a Lever and a Place to Stand, I Will Move the Earth

Following on the last post, “Albert Einstein: Ulmenses sunt mathematici” and in line with my goal to publish “That’s Just My Baby Daddy” as mentioned in “Purpose, Mind Mapping, The World, and Books!”, this week’ article shares an account of Archimedes’ life. He too, is one of twelve men chosen who’ve contributed greatly to society.

Born in Syracuse, Italy around 287BC during what’s come to be known as the Hellenistic period, Archimedes is regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians and scientists of antiquity. The son of astronomer and mathematician, Phidias, not much is known about his early life but it’s believed that the family may have been related to Hieron, King of Syracuse.

Founded by the Greeks from Corinth at about 734BC, Syracuse was the most powerful city in Europe at the time with as many as 500,000 inhabitants. The Syracusans shipped grain, wool, pigs, cheese, pickled fish, and other goods to North Africa, Greece, and the Italian peninsula.

Archimedes would’ve likely started school at 8-years-old where he would’ve studied subjects such as reading, writing, mathematics, music, and geography. Writing and calculations were done on a wooden board covered with wax using sharp bone or iron stick as a writing implement. He would’ve also studied Homer, Solon, as well as Aesop.

In addition to astronomy, music and drawing would’ve played part in his education. He would’ve been taught military strategy, how to use weapons, how to wrestle, box, run, jump, and throw a spear… how to swim and dive.

Archimedes would later travel to Egypt to study at the city of Alexandria—home of the museum and library of Alexandria with more than 1 million books at the time in the form of rolls of papyrus. There he became lifelong friends with Conon of Samos, who taught mathematics at the Museum and Eratosthenes, the first to estimate Earth’s circumference and tilt.

“The most learned men and women were invited to work and teach at the Library of Alexandria” where they were paid a salary by Ptolemy and free to devote themselves to research and study.

Archimedes enjoyed geometry and mathematics the most. He would at times solve problems by conducting experiments to test whether the idea worked in the natural world, becoming one of the first scientists to do so.

According to Plutarch, Archimedes was obsessed with mathematics, servants had to force him to take baths. While they scrubbed him, he would continue to draw geometrical figures. It would be during one of these baths that he discovered what’s come to be known as "Archimedes Principle,” which states that when an object is placed in a fluid, it is buoyed up by a force that is equal to the weight of the fluid is displaces.

The incident leading to this discovery was King Hieron II questioning the authenticity of a wreath-shaped crown—called a stephane—which he’d commissioned from the royal goldsmith. To determine whether he'd been cheated by the goldsmith, who he believed substituted silver for some of the gold provided, King Hieron II sought advice from Archimedes.

The answer came to Archimedes as he stepped into a bath set out for him, and the water overflowed unto the bathroom floor in the amount of his weight. The story goes that he ran down the street to the palace naked shouting, "Eureka!" Meaning, "I have found" it in Greek.

Archimedes would demonstrate the concept to King Hieron II with the crown, that essentially when an object is placed in water, it displaces an amount equal to its own volume. Individually placing the crown and a lump of gold equal in weight, he determined that the goldsmith cheated. By some accounts, the royal goldsmith was executed.

During the span of his life, Archimedes had many discoveries and wrote at least thirteen books. He was an astronomer and built a model planetarium to show the way the stars and planets moved in the night sky. The model was made of glass spheres, one inside the other, and turned by water power. The Earth was the center of the model, as was the belief at the time, and each sphere held a small planet. As the spheres moved, the movements of the planets could be seen. He estimated the distance from the Earth to the Sun. He devised a new kind of number, called Order Numbers, which are written in the same way that scientists write large numbers today.

He studied how levers and pulleys worked and, using them, built machines capable of lifting large weights. Some of his machines were used to defend Syracuse when it was attached by the Romans in 215BC during the Second Punic War.

Upon discovering that the lever could be used to easily raise up or shift heavy weights he said, "Give me a strong enough lever, and I can move the Earth." As a result of this claim, King Hieron II challenged him to move a large ship that was beached near the Syracuse harbor.

"Move the ship," he told Archimedes, "and I will believe your claim." Archimedes chose instead to use a pulley. Specifically, he made a compound pulley—one with many wheels to magnify the force—and tied one of the ropes to the ship.

Another of his inventions is the Archimedean screws. It’s been used to raise water—which has a weight of about sixty-two pounds per cubic foot—from canals and help irrigate crops. They became popular in Egypt and are still in use today.

He’s credited with making a "death ray" consisting of a set of mirrors that focused sunlight on Roman ships, setting them on fire. In 2005, David Wallace of MIT created an oak replica of Roman warship and had students focus 127 mirrored tiles, each 72 square meters in area, towards the ship 30 meters away… after 10 minutes, the ship burst in flames. Similarly in 1973, a Greek engineered rowboat burst into flames after being focused with 70 flat mirrors.

Archimedes would become an inspiration to Sophie Germain, considered one of the greatest female mathematicians. His mathematical discoveries did not have a great influence on humanity until Arabs rediscovered and revived them in the 8th century.

He was killed at the hands of one of Marcellus's soldiers during capture of Syracuse in the Second Punic between Rome and Carthage.

When the Romans attacked with an assault from both land and sea, they were no match for his super-catapults which hurled stones weighing more than a quarter ton demolishing Marcellus’s smaller catapults and land forces. Cranelike beaks and iron claws reached down over the wall of Syracuse, seizing approaching ships.

Plutarch offers several versions of his death. One which compares to that of Roman historian Valerius Maximus is that while he was studying a mathematical diagram drawn in the sand, Archimedes encountered one of Marcellus’ soldiers. His last words before being killed, "Don't disturb my circles."

Marcellus made sure that according to Archimedes wish, he had inscribed on his tombstone what he’d considered his greatest discovery. The image of a sphere within a cylinder, which represents that the volume of a sphere is two-thirds the volume of the smallest cylinder that encloses and that the surface of the sphere is also two-thirds the surface area of the cylinder. Cicero would later have the tomb restored in 75BC. The location of the tomb has since been a mystery, and Archimedes’ burial grounds are now unknown.

Other great thinkers during the Hellenistic period include historian Polybius, mathematician Euclid, geographers Eratosthenes and Poseidonius, and linguist Dionysius Thrax.

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Hope you enjoyed this week’s Notable People in History newsletter. Subscribe to Notable People in History on your favorite podcasting platform.

Come along with me and explore the lives of Archimedes, Galileo Galilei, Albert Einstein, Wangari Maathai, Ctesibius, Valentina Tereshkova, Chiune Sugihara, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett… and others who’ve greatly influenced society.

What life choices led them to be so extraordinary… what can we learn from them?

About the Author: Lawrence Jean-Louis is the founder and creative behind beYOUteous, an eCommerce store offering a line of handcrafted beaded jewelry which aims to spread the message for embracing individuality, feminine strength, and empowerment. Her latest book, That’s Just My Baby Daddy! 12 Men Who've Contributed Greatly to Society is available for pre-order with a release date of March 16.

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