caption native_name_lang death_date death_place birth_place field native_name birth_date alt residence known_for image article_title name
'' archimedes thoughtful '' by fetti -lrb- 1620 -rrb- greek '' -lrb- aged around 75 -rrb- c '' . 212 & nbsp ; bc syracuse syracuse , sicily magna graecia mathematics physics engineering astronomy invention Ἀρχιμήδης '' c '' . 287 & nbsp ; bc '' archimedes thoughtful '' by fetti -lrb- 1620 -rrb- syracuse , sicily archimedes ' principle archimedes ' screw hydrostatics levers infinitesimals domenico-fetti archimedes 1620.jpg archimedes
 archimedes of syracuse
archimedes

archimedes of syracuse -lrb- ; ; bc -- bc -rrb- was an ancient 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 .
generally considered the greatest mathematician of antiquity and one of the greatest of all time , archimedes anticipated modern calculus and analysis by applying concepts of infinitesimals and the method of exhaustion to derive and rigorously prove a range of geometrical theorems , including the area of a circle , the surface area and volume of a sphere , and the area under a parabola .
other mathematical achievements include deriving an accurate approximation of pi , defining and investigating the spiral bearing his name , and creating a system using exponentiation for expressing very large numbers .
he was also one of the first to apply mathematics to physical phenomena , founding hydrostatics and statics , including an explanation of the principle of the lever .
he is credited with designing innovative machines , such as his screw pump , compound pulleys , and defensive war machines to protect his native syracuse from invasion .
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 and a cylinder , which archimedes had requested to be placed on his tomb , representing his mathematical discoveries .
unlike his inventions , the mathematical writings of archimedes were little known in antiquity .
mathematicians from alexandria read and quoted him , but the first comprehensive compilation was not made until `` c. '' 530 ad by isidore of miletus in byzantine constantinople , while commentaries on the works of archimedes written by eutocius in the sixth century ad opened them to wider readership for the first time .
the relatively few copies of archimedes ' written work that survived through the middle ages were an influential source of ideas for scientists during the renaissance , while the discovery in 1906 of previously unknown works by archimedes in the archimedes palimpsest has provided new insights into how he obtained mathematical results .
