Archimedes

c. 287 BCE – 212 BCE · died at about 75^[1][2]

Science & Invention

Fun Facts About Archimedes

• Archimedes probably never said "Do not disturb my circles." Those famous last words do not appear in any ancient source, which give several different accounts of his death.^[1]
• Lost works by Archimedes were found in 1906 hidden under a 13th-century prayer book, whose parchment had been scraped and reused. The manuscript sold for $2.2 million in 1998.^[1]
• The story of Archimedes running naked through the streets shouting "Eureka" comes from Vitruvius, who wrote about two centuries after Archimedes died.^[1]
• The Archimedes screw is named for him, but the device likely predates him by a significant amount.^[1]
• In The Sand Reckoner, Archimedes invented a system for huge numbers and estimated that filling the universe would take 8 vigintillion grains of sand.^[1]
• While serving as a Roman official in Sicily, Cicero found what was presumed to be Archimedes' neglected tomb, overgrown with bushes. Its sculpture of a sphere and cylinder illustrated his favorite proof.^[1]
• Archimedes and Hannibal were on the same side in the Second Punic War.^[1][2][3][4]
• Archimedes was alive at the same time as Qin Shi Huang — their lives overlapped for 47 years (259 BCE–212 BCE).^[1][2][5][6]

Archimedes of Syracuse was an Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, based on his surviving work, he is considered one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity, and one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. Archimedes anticipated modern calculus and analysis by applying the concept of the infinitesimals and the method of exhaustion to derive and rigorously prove many geometrical theorems, including the area of a circle, the surface area and volume of a sphere, the area of an ellipse, the area under a parabola, the volume of a segment of a paraboloid of revolution, the volume of a segment of a hyperboloid of revolution, and the area of a spiral.^[1]

Contemporaries

Ashoka

55 yr overlap

Qin Shi Huang

47 yr overlap

Hannibal

35 yr overlap

Euclid

22 yr overlap

Questions About Archimedes

When was Archimedes born?

Archimedes was born about 287 BCE and died in 212 BCE.

How old was Archimedes at death?

Archimedes died in 212 BCE at about 75 years old (c. 287 BCE–212 BCE).

What was Archimedes known for?

Archimedes was known for: Greatest mathematician of antiquity. Archimedes of Syracuse was an Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, based on his surviving work, he is considered one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity, and one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. Archimedes anticipated modern calculus and analysis by applying the concept of the infinitesimals and the method of exhaustion to derive and rigorously prove many geometrical theorems, including the area of a circle, the surface area and volume of a sphere, the area of an ellipse, the area under a parabola, the volume of a segment of a paraboloid of revolution, the volume of a segment of a hyperboloid of revolution, and the area of a spiral.

Who was alive at the same time as Archimedes?

Archimedes's closest contemporary was Ashoka. Their lives overlapped for 55 years.