Archimedes of Syracuse

Archimedes demonstrated that a very heavy object could be raised with relatively little effort by using a series  of pulleys (a compound pulley) or by using levers. He was so confident of his principles of levers and pulleys that he boasted he could move anything. One of Archimedes many famous quotes is "Give me a place to stand and i will move the Earth!"

Aware of his genius, King Hieron turned to Archimedes on many occasions. One amusing legend concerns  the problem of the king's gold crown. After giving a goldsmith a quantity of gold for the creation of an elaborate crown, King Hieron suspected the smith of keeping some of gold and replacing it with an equal weight of silver. Since he had no proof, Hieron turned to Archimedes. Pondering the King's problem, Archimedes submerged himself in a full tub of water to bath. As he climbed in, he notice the water overflowing the tub. In a flash of brilliance, later we fame bout flash of genius, he discovered the solution to the king's problem. Overjoyed with his idea, Archimedes is rumored to have run down the street totally naked, shouting "Eureka! eureka!" (i have found it! i have found it!)



What Archimedes had found is that because silver is less dense than gold, an equal weigh of silver would have a greater volume than equal weight of gold and consequently would displace more water. When the crown and a piece of pure gold of the same weight were immersed in water, the smith's fate was sealed. Even though the crown and the pure gold had the same weight, the crown displaced more water, thus proving that it had been adulterated.

In 215 B.C., the Romans laid siege to Syracuse on the island of Sicily. The Roman commander Mercellus had no idea of the fierce resistance his troops were to face, the attack was from the sea. A native of Syracuse, Archimedes (then seventy-two years old) designed and help build a number of ingenious weapons to defends his home. He designed huge catapults that hurled immense boulder at the Roman ships. These catapults were set to throw the projectiles at different ranges so that no matter where the ships were, they were always under fire. When a ship managed to come in close, the defender lowered large hooks over the city walls, grabbed the ship, lifted it into the air with pulleys and tossed it back into the sea.

Needles to say, the Greek defenders put up a good fight. The fought so well that the siege lasted nearly three years. However, one day, while the people of Syracuse were feasting and celebrating a religious festival, Roman sympathizers within the city informed the attackers of weakness in the city's defense, and a bloody sack began. Marcellus had given strict order to take Archimedes alive; no harm was to come to him or his house. At the time, Archimedes was studying the drawing of circles he had made in the sand. Preoccupied, he did not notice the Roman soldier standing next to him until the soldier cast a shadow on his drawings in the sand. The agitated mathematician called out, "Dont disturb my circles!" At that, the insulted soldier used his sword and killed Archimedes of Syracuse.

The Roman commander Marcellus so grieved at the loss of Archimedes that when he learned mathematician's wish for the design of his tombstone, he fulfilled it.

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wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes