Archimedes' family belongs to the aristocratic class and is related to the ancient Syrian king Hilong II, but his family is not rich. His father phidias was an astronomer and mathematician, which made Archimedes well educated and deeply influenced by scientific knowledge. When he was young, Archimedes was smart and studious, good at studying and thinking about various problems, and often reached the level of obsession. It is said that when he was young, he designed a machine for loading and unloading goods at the port. But at this time his theoretical knowledge is not enough to tell the truth. With the help of the king, he came to Alexandria, Egypt for further study.
Alexandria, located in the port of the Nile, was one of the largest cities in the Greek world at that time, and it was also a cultural and academic center. It was a place where talents gathered, with a rich library and a scholarship garden. Euclid, the father of geometry, once opened a school here, taught the basic principles of geometry and trained a group of talents. Archimedes came here to study with Conon of Samos, a student of Euclid. He became friends with Eratosthenes, a young scholar (as a librarian), and they often discussed problems together. The diameter of the earth measured by Eratosthenes is only 100 km away from the current length. The dispute between Heliocentrism and geocentric theory launched by scholars here, although Heliocentrism failed to win, broadened Archimedes' thinking and inspired him.
After studying, Archimedes often walked along the Nile. In the season of long drought and no rain, he saw that farmers used buckets to carry water from the river to water the land, which was very difficult. In order to solve the problem of irrigating farmland with Nile water, he made a screw pump, which can pump water continuously from low to high. This is a machine called Archimedes spiral. This kind of drainage machinery was later used more and more widely, such as mixers and meat grinders, all using the principle of Archimedes screw.
In the first 240 years, Archimedes returned to his hometown and became an adviser to the king, helping him solve problems in production, military affairs and various life. This prompted him to combine theory with practice and made many new discoveries and inventions.
"If you give me a fulcrum, I can move the earth." This is Archimedes' famous saying that emphasizes leverage. Lever has been recognized and used for a long time, but no one has systematically discussed it. Archimedes summed up the scattered expositions of predecessors' textual research, and through the mathematical proof of lever balance conditions, he wrote On the Balance of Plane Figures, systematically, comprehensively and scientifically summarized the lever principle, and obtained the lever law that the weight ratio is equal to the reciprocal distance. This law later became the basis of all mechanical design and directly guided people's production and life practice. It is said that King Hilong once complained that Archimedes' theoretical research was useless, but something happened shortly after that convinced the king. The king ordered a big ship to be built, but it could not be launched after it was built. Just when everyone was helpless, Archimedes took the initiative to challenge, designed and manufactured a set of lever pulley system, and then handed one end of the rope to the king. With a gentle pull from the king, the boat moved slowly into the water. The king was very happy. He issued a special notice and ordered that "from now on, everything Archimedes said must be obeyed".
In ancient Greece, when people calculated the circumference and area of a circle, they used a number with a diameter of one and a circumference of three (that is, a diameter of one week and three weeks). However, the circumference and area of the circle calculated by this method are always very small. After repeated calculation and verification, Archimedes found that it was expressed in decimal, that is, 3. 1409.
One of the most popular stories is that Shilong II gave the craftsman 15 gold to make a pure gold crown. After many days, the crown was made, and the fine gold thread was woven into various patterns, which was very beautiful. Weigh it, and it is exactly 15. The king was full of joy when he got it, but he suspected that the craftsman had stolen gold and mixed it with silver. The king ordered people to check the color and not to break a gold thread. No one can finish this important task, so we have to hand it over to Archimedes. After Archimedes accepted the task, he thought hard all day and couldn't think of any good way. But he didn't give up, and this problem has been bothering him. One day, he went to the bathhouse to take a bath. When he walked into the bathhouse, he saw the water in the basin overflow slowly, while his body was floating slightly. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and an inspiration flashed into his mind: the same weight of objects, due to different volumes, discharged different amounts of water. Yes, he ran home shouting "I found it, I found it" regardless of his naked body. Through experiments and strict calculations, it is proved that Wang Guanzhong is mixed with silver, and the exact amount is obtained, which makes the craftsmen convinced. From this, he discovered the basic principle of hydrostatics-the weight of an object in a liquid is equal to the weight of the liquid it discharges. Later, in his book On Buoyancy, he expounded this principle, which is called Archimedes principle.
At the end of the 3rd century, Archimedes was old, and the war between Rome and Carthage became more and more fierce. The position of Syracuse, sandwiched between two great powers, is delicate and has to be unbalanced. Before 2 18, the second Punic War broke out in two big countries. At the beginning of the war, Hannibal, a famous Carthaginian, led an army to suddenly appear in northern Italy, which led to the defeat of the Roman army. Syracuse took the opportunity to leave Rome and announced an alliance with Carthage. When the Roman army recovered from its defeat, it immediately retaliated against the city-states that betrayed them. Roman Senate ordered Consul marcellus to command four legions and 40 warships to attack Syracuse. Archimedes is duty-bound to devote himself to the battle to defend the motherland. Under his guidance, the machinery made by Syracuse ancients played a great role in the war.
When the enemy warships attacked from the sea, large and small stones flew out of the city wall and hit the warships. When the warship finally approached the city wall, a quite advanced long mechanical boom extended from the city wall, and huge iron claws and hooks were hung under the boom to hook the Roman warship, slowly rising, then slowly tilting and capsizing at sea. There is also a legend that when a Roman warship approached, many mirrors concentrated on the wall reflected sunlight to the enemy's sails, which caused the warship to catch fire and caused heavy losses (people have always been skeptical about this legend. After studying light in17th century, Newton thought this situation was completely possible. Claudius, commander of the navy, said, "We are just fighting a barrel. Disasters keep coming at us, but we can't see the enemy. We don't want to be against scientists. " The navy had to withdraw from the battle. The fate of the Roman army seems even worse. When the army approached the city wall, the trebuchet threw stones at the enemy. When the army retreated, sharp arrows flew out again, beating the enemy to flee.
Matthias had no choice but to order the siege of the ancient city of Silas. A year or two later, Syracuse is still safe and sound. But the food in the city is getting more and more tense, and people are worried. Some people have surrendered. 2/kloc-in the spring of 0/2, a mercenary captain defected and secretly opened the city gate in the dark to let the enemy in. The long-awaited enemy rushed into the city, burning and looting irrepressibly in the city. Although marcellus ordered Archimedes not to touch him, he sent a soldier to invite him. However, under the cover of the nest, Ann has laid eggs. Archimedes was absorbed in verifying a geometric figure in front of him. Suddenly, the shadow of a soldier blocked the light. Archimedes shouted angrily, Go away! You broke my graphics. The soldier wanted to take him to see Masalas. He said, "Wait, let me prove this problem." The soldier finally got impatient, pulled out his sword and stabbed Archimedes in the chest. A great scientist died in this way.
After Archimedes died, according to his early entrustment, people carved a cylinder and an inscribed sphere with a volume ratio of 3: 2 on his tombstone (one of his discoveries: the volume ratio of inscribed sphere with the same diameter to cylinder is 2: 3).
Archimedes closely combined mathematics with physics, not only solved mathematical problems with mechanical methods, but also studied mechanics and other practical problems with mathematical methods, making outstanding contributions to mathematics and physics. He is the pioneer of modern mathematical analysis, the founder of statics, the founder of hydrostatics and the inventor of screw pump. His discoveries and inventions are widely used today. In the history of scientific development, he and Newton marked two important times in the history of mechanics and mathematics.