Archimedes was born around 287 BCE in Syracuse, a Greek colony on the eastern coast of Sicily, and probably studied in Alexandria before returning home. He calculated the area of a circle and the volume of a sphere with such elegance that he asked to have a sphere inscribed in a cylinder carved on his tomb. He discovered the principle of buoyancy reportedly while bathing, and ran naked through the streets shouting 'Eureka!' During the Roman siege of Syracuse (214–212 BCE) he designed military machines — claws that hoisted attacking ships from the water, possibly an array of mirrors that focused sunlight to set sails ablaze — that held Marcellus's fleet at bay for two years. When the city finally fell in 212 BCE, a Roman soldier killed him as he was tracing geometric figures in the sand; legend has it his last words were 'Do not disturb my circles.' Cicero rediscovered his neglected tomb a century later.
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Mathematician · Engineer · Inventor
Archimedes of Syracuse
c. 287 BCE – 212 BCE
The Syracusan polymath who measured π to remarkable precision, invented the principle of buoyancy in a bathtub, and held off a Roman army with mirrors and cranes before being slain by a soldier who didn't recognise him.
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