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In the summer of 1499 Leonardo di Vinci is hired by Cesare Borga as a military engineer. Leonardo begins to work on a steam canon that had originally been an idea of Archimedes of Syracuse some 1500 years earlier. Cesare invites Leonardo to his headquarters for diner to learn more about Archimedes. He soon discovers that Leonardo seems to know a great deal about Archimedes. Leonardo has in his possession a wooden chest filled with drawings and ideas from Archimedes. In the course of the evening, Leonardo tells Cesare all about the life of Archimedes. With the help of documents from the chest, Leonardo tells the story of Archimedes of Syracuse, and how he made many discoveries in mathematics and science. Archimedes determined the true value of pi (3.14159) before the concept of a zero was understood. He discovered the laws of levers, equilibrium, and bouyancy. He invented many machines including war machines that held the might of the Roman army at bay for a year. At the request of his king, Archimedes visits Alexandria and the great library there. He had corresponded with many of the great scholars who resided at the nearby museum. While in Alexandria he falls in love with Princess Helena, and inspite of their age difference, they marry and return to Syracuse. Soon Helena gives birth to their only child, a daughter they name Arsinoe. For nearly fifty years, Syracuse experiences peace, and avoids being drawn directly into the frequent conflicts between Rome and Carthage. However, eventually war comes to Syracuse, and Archimedes must use all his vast knowledge to defend Syracuse and his very family from the Romans invaders. As Leonardo concludes his story, Cesare offers to purchase the chest of ideas from Leonardo. Leonardo declines the offer a leaves Cesare's headquarters, taking the chest and its secrets with him. Who know which of Leonardo de Vinci's inventions were really the brainchild of Archimedes of Syracuse? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Archimedes is a easy read
I found Archimedes easy to read; a great mix of fact and fiction.The author clarifies some of the general myths about the great man. ... Read more

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The Sand Reckoner of Archimedes
By Thomas Heath

"This short treatise of Archimedes on the amount of sand grains which could be contained in the ancient model of the universe is remarkable. It uses some extremely large numbers, given that this was antiquity and Europeans did not yet have the benefit of decimal notation. It also anticipates the method of Calculus: measuring by subdivision into very small quanta, in this case grains of sand. Also of interest are Archimedes' (incorrect but informed) estimates of the relative size of the sun, moon and earth. The argument can be followed by anyone who has mastered basic algebra."

About the Author

"Plato (wide, broad-browed) (428/427 BC - 348/347 BC), was a Classical Greek philosopher. Together with his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Plato was also a mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world. Plato was originally a student of Socrates, and was much influenced by his thinking as by what he saw as his teacher's unjust death.

Plato's brilliance as a writer and thinker can be witnessed by reading his Socratic dialogues. Some of the dialogues, letters, and other works that are ascribed to him are considered spurious. Interestingly, although there is little question that Plato lectured at the Academy that he founded, the pedagogical function of his dialogues, if any, is not known with certainty. The dialogues have since Plato's time been used to teach a range of subjects, mostly including philosophy, logic, rhetoric, mathematics, and other subjects about which he wrote." ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Archimède, Lucie de Syracuse, Mario Feroce, Alessio Di Mauro, Gaetano Zumbo, Giuseppe Di Grande, Giuseppe Gibilisco, Stefania Prestigiacomo, Mario Minniti, Stefano Barrera, Giuseppe Palumbo, Elio Vittorini, Enzo Maiorca, Salvo Randone, Rosario Gagliardi, Andray Blatche, Santo D'amico, Paolo Boï, Salvatore Tavano. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Archimède de Syracuse (en grec : / Arkhimêdês), né à Syracuse vers 287 av. J.-C. et mort à Syracuse en 212 av. J.-C., est un grand scientifique grec de Sicile (Grande Grèce) de l'Antiquité, physicien, mathématicien et ingénieur. Bien que peu de détails de sa vie soient connus, il est considéré comme l'un des principaux scientifiques de l'Antiquité classique. Parmi ses domaines d'étude en physique, on peut citer l'hydrostatique, la mécanique statique et l'explication du principe du levier. Il est crédité de la conception de plusieurs outils innovants, comme la vis d'Archimède. Archimède est généralement considéré comme le plus grand mathématicien de l'Antiquité et l'un des plus grands de tous les temps. Il a utilisé la méthode d'exhaustion pour calculer l'aire sous un arc de parabole avec la somme d'une série infinie et a donné un encadrement de Pi d'une remarquable précision. Il a également introduit la spirale qui porte son nom, des formules pour les volumes des surfaces de révolution et un système ingénieux pour l'expression de très grands nombres. Archimède est mort pendant le siège de Syracuse où il a été tué par un soldat romain qui a agi malgré les ordres qui demandaient de ne pas nuire à Archimède. Contrairement à ses inventions, les écrits mathématiques d'Archimède sont peu connus dans l'Antiquité. Les mathématiciens d'Alexandrie l'ont lu et cité, ...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

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Chapters: Archimedes, Tonino Accolla, Methodios I of Constantinople, Giuseppe Gibilisco, Elio Vittorini, Lucia Migliaccio of Floridia, Mario Minniti, Saint Bassian, Concetto Lo Bello, Alessio Di Mauro, Rhinthon, Achille Majeroni, Arturo Basile, Ignazio Belluardo, Paolo Boi, Enzo Maiorca. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 27. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Archimedes of Syracuse (Greek: ; c. 287 BC c. 212 BC) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an explanation of the principle of the lever. He is credited with designing innovative machines, including siege engines and the screw pump that bears his name. Modern experiments have tested claims that Archimedes designed machines capable of lifting attacking ships out of the water and setting ships on fire using an array of mirrors. Archimedes is generally considered to be the greatest mathematician of antiquity and one of the greatest of all time. He used the method of exhaustion to calculate the area under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an infinite series, and gave a remarkably accurate approximation of pi. He also defined the spiral bearing his name, formulae for the volumes of surfaces of revolution and an ingenious system for expressing very large numbers. Archimedes died during the Siege of Syracuse when he was killed by a Roman soldier despite orders that he should not be harmed. Cicero describes visiting the tomb of Archimedes, which was surmounted by a sphere inscribed within a cylinder. Archimedes had proven that the sphere has two thirds of the volume and surface area of the cylinder (inc...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1844 ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Sand Reckoner is a work by Archimedes in which he set out to determine an upper bound for the number of grains of sand that fit into the universe. In order to do this, he had to estimate the size of the universe according to the then-current model, and invent a way to talk about extremely large numbers. The work, also known as Archimedis Syracusani Arenarius & Dimensio Circuli, is about 8 pages long in translation, is addressed to the Syracusan king Gelo II (son of Hiero II) and is probably the most accessible work of Archimedes; in some sense, it is the first research-expository paper. ... Read more

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Chapters: Archimedes, Agathocles, Cephalus, Hiero I of Syracuse, Theocritus, Dionysius I of Syracuse, Philistus, Sophron, Hiero Ii of Syracuse, Dion of Syracuse, Calippus of Syracuse, Symeon of Trier, Dionysius Ii of Syracuse, Hieronymus of Syracuse, Hicetas, Leptines of Syracuse, Hermocrates, Epicydes, Archestratus, Theodoridas of Syracuse, Corax of Syracuse, Phrygillus, Lanassa, Rhinthon, Philistis, Menecrates of Syracuse, Thrasybulus of Syracuse, Nereis of Epirus, Polemarchus, Agatharchus of Syracuse, Ecphantus the Pythagorean, Achaeus of Syracuse, Antiochus of Syracuse, Apollocrates, Simmias of Syracuse. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 132. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Archimedes of Syracuse (Greek: ; c. 287 BC c. 212 BC) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an explanation of the principle of the lever. He is credited with designing innovative machines, including siege engines and the screw pump that bears his name. Modern experiments have tested claims that Archimedes designed machines capable of lifting attacking ships out of the water and setting ships on fire using an array of mirrors. Archimedes is generally considered to be the greatest mathematician of antiquity and one of the greatest of all time. He used the method of exhaustion to calculate the area under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an infinite series, and gave a remarkably accurate approximation of pi. He also defined the spiral bearing his name, formulae for the volumes of surfaces of revolution and an ingenious system for expressing very large numbers. Archimedes died ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1844 ... Read more

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Archimedes is held in high esteem by mathematicians, physicists and engineers as one of the most brilliant scientists of all time. These proceedings contain original, unpublished papers with the primary emphasis on the scientific work of Archimedes and his influence on the fields of mathematics, science, and engineering. There are also papers dealing with archaeological aspects and the myths and legends about Archimedes and about the Archimedes Palimpsest. Papers on the following subjects form part of the book: Hydrostatics (buoyancy, fluid pressure and density, stability of floating bodies); Mechanics (levers, pulleys, centers of gravity, laws of equilibrium); Pycnometry (measurement of volume and density); Integral Calculus (Archimedes as the father of the integral calculus, method of exhaustion, approximation of pi, determination of areas and volumes); Mathematical Physics (Archimedes as the father of mathematical physics, Law of the Lever, Law of Buoyancy, Axiomatization of Physics); History of Mathematics and Mechanics (Archimedes’ influence in antiquity, the middle ages, the Renaissance, and modern times; his influence on Leonado da Vinci, Galileo, Newton, and other giants of science and mathematics); Ancient Machines and Mechanisms (catapults, water screws, iron hands, compound pulleys, planetaria, water clocks, celestial globes, the Antikythera Mechanism); Archimedean Solids (their rediscovery in the Rennaisance and their applications in materials science and chemistry); Archimedean Legends (how stories of golden crowns, eureka moments, naked runs, burning mirrors, steam cannons, etc., have influenced us through the ages, whether true or not); The Cattle Problem (how its 18thcentury rediscovery inspired the study of equations with integer solutions); Teaching the Ideas of Archimedes (how his life and works have influenced the teaching of science, mathematics, and engineering). ... Read more

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Chapters: Archimedes' Screw, the Sand Reckoner, the Method of Mechanical Theorems, Siege of Syracuse, the Quadrature of the Parabola, Salinon, Claw of Archimedes, Syracusia. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 59. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Archimedes of Syracuse (Greek: ; c. 287 BC c. 212 BC) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an explanation of the principle of the lever. He is credited with designing innovative machines, including siege engines and the screw pump that bears his name. Modern experiments have tested claims that Archimedes designed machines capable of lifting attacking ships out of the water and setting ships on fire using an array of mirrors. Archimedes is generally considered to be the greatest mathematician of antiquity and one of the greatest of all time. He used the method of exhaustion to calculate the area under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an infinite series, and gave a remarkably accurate approximation of pi. He also defined the spiral bearing his name, formulae for the volumes of surfaces of revolution and an ingenious system for expressing very large numbers. Archimedes died during the Siege of Syracuse when he was killed by a Roman soldier despite orders that he should not be harmed. Cicero describes visiting the tomb of Archimedes, which was surmounted by a sphere inscribed within a cylinder. Archimedes had proven that the sphere has two thirds of the volume and surface area of the cylinder (including the bases of the latter), and regarded this as the greatest of his mathematical achievements. Unlike his invention...http://booksllc.net/?id=1844 ... Read more