Archimedes of Greece

By Smriti Daniel

"Gotta minute, Sir?"

"No, no, go away." The man does not even turn around. He simply waves his hand in dismissal and annoyance, "Go away now!" he adds, just in case Glootnoot didn't understand the first time. Glootnoot steps back, but does not leave. She knows that she really needs to talk to Professor Cronides and that she needs to talk to him now. If she can finish the interview and get to her computer by 4 p.m. at the latest, she just might be able to meet her deadline. (Glootnoot's editor, in case you were wondering, is a fearsome character and not to be tangled with. Just the thought of her makes Glootnoot's knees knock a little.) Glootnoot steels herself and ventures close to the man again.

"Professor Cronides, I really can't go away. I'm D. Glootnoot from the Funday Times… If you recall, you said you would speak with me when I called you yesterday."

Her words have an immediate effect. The professor straightens up abruptly, and spins around. His annoyance seems to have evaporated, and instead Glootnoot finds herself being inspected by a pair of shrewd eyes. Something seems to click in behind his glasses, and he asks "from the Funday Times? The Funday Times! Ah, yes, the Funday Times!"

Professor Cronides, Glootnoot decides, is just a little bit barmy. "Yes from the Funday Times, I'm here to speak with you about Archimedes. It's for an article."

"Yes, yes, I remember. I don't have much time, you know, but Archimedes, well I could spare a few moments for him. He's a good sort, Archimedes."

Definitely barmy, thinks Glootnoot, but all she says is "Yes. A good sort."

Cronides: Hmm… perhaps we should begin with a little introduction to him?

Glootnoot: That sounds like a good idea.

C: Now let me see. Archimedes was born in 287 BC in Syracuse. His father – Phidias – was an astronomer and mathematician. Aside from that, very little is known about his family or his early life.

G: But we must know something about the period? What was Syracuse itself like?

C: Syracuse was an interesting place. In the Third Century BC, that city was a hub of commerce, art and science. Archimedes was the curious sort – always looking for solutions to problems – and he soon learnt all he could from his teachers in Syracuse.
G: What did he do then?

C: Well, he left, and travelled all the way to Alexandria in Egypt. Alexandria was the most exciting place for a scholar and inventor in that period. Founded by Alexander the Great, Alexandria had that fabulous library. Scholars gravitated towards it like bees to honey!

G: So there were lots of others like Archimedes?

C: Not at all! Archimedes, my dear little girl, was one of a kind! But there was Euclid. He was a rather good mathematician himself you know, and Archimedes undoubtedly picked up a thing or two from him.

After his studies in Alexandria, Archimedes returned to Syracuse, Professor Cronides tells Glootnoot, explaining that by now Archimedes had dedicated himself to a life of thought, analysis and invention. Many legends from the period record how Archimedes became a favourite of King Hiero II, discovering solutions to problems that vexed the king.

G: What kind of problems?

C: Hmm... Let me see. The most famous one was of course, the matter of the crown and the bathtub. King Hiero asked one of his goldsmiths to create a new royal crown for him and provided the man with solid gold with which to make it. However, when the crown arrived, the king knew that all was not as it seemed. The crown did not feel right, and the king suspected that the goldsmith only used some of the gold, and added silver to make the crown the correct weight.

G: The goldsmith wanted to sell the stolen gold?

C: Of course… and since the weight was correct, he thought the king would never guess. That's where Archimedes came in. The king asked him to determine whether or not the crown was pure gold – without harming it in the process. For a while the problem seemed to have no solution… until Archimed-es decided to take the crown into the bathtub with him.

Archimedes noticed that the full bath overflowed when he lowered himself into it, and suddenly realized that he could measure the crown's volume by the amount of water it displaced. He knew that since he could measure the crown's volume, all he had to do was discover its weight in order to calculate its density and hence its purity. Archimedes was so exuberant about his discovery that he ran down the streets of Syracuse naked shouting, "Eureka!" in Greek.

G: "I've found it?"

C: Precisely. Another such story lies behind the discovery of Archimede's Screw.

G: Tell me.

C: When it rained heavily, the hulls of King Hiero's ships would be filled with rainwater. The king ordered Archimedes to find a solution – and he did. Archimedes created a machine made of a hollow tube containing a spiral that could be turned by a handle at one end. When the lower end of the tube was placed into the hull and the handle turned, water was carried up the tube and out of the boat. You know, they still use it in irrigation.

Archimedes' greatest service to his Syracuse was however in defending it against the Roman army, Professor Cronides reveals. During Archimedes' lifetime Sicily was a political hotspot. The Punic Wars raged between Rome and Carthage and Sicily was caught in the middle.

C: They decided to side with Carthage against Rome in 214 BC, and not surprisingly, the Roman army immediately sailed to Syracuse and laid siege to the city walls. But Archimedes was already ready for them.

G: What could one man do against an army?

C: Believe me, one man can do a lot, especially if that man is Archimedes. He constructed massive war machines to defend Syracuse, which struck fear into the Romans. The Roman historian Polybius describes catapults that threw huge weights onto Roman ships, actually sinking them. Other ships were seized at the prow by iron claws, drawn straight up into the air, and then plunged stern foremost into the depths. There was even talk about shields being shined to mirror finish and then being used to set the sails on fire.

G: The Romans must've been terrified!

C: They were. Apparently the sight of an old man on the walls of the fortress would have them fleeing in fear that Archimedes was there.

For two years the genius of Archimedes repelled the Romans. But the Romans attacked again from the land and took the city. The commander Marcellus greatly respected Archimedes, and immediately sent a soldier to find him.

G: Was Archimedes hiding?

C: Far from it. He didn't even know that city had fallen – he was so focused on some mathematical problem. When the soldier demanded Archimedes accompany him to the quarters of Marcellus he simply refused. Then the idiotic soldier lost his cool and hit Archimedes. The blow killed him. Marcellus was not happy, I can tell you that. Anyway, he had Archimedes buried with honours. His tombstone was, as he had wished, engraved with an image of a sphere within a cylinder, after one of his geometrical treatises.

There's still a lot more to tell. Professor Cronide and Glootnoot talk for hours about Archimedes, until suddenly Glootnoot looks at the clock. It's 3.30 and time to leave! She quickly says goodbye to him and runs out the door. Thoughts of her editor lend wings to her feet.