|
| Thread: Archimedes (greek) | |
|
Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
|
posted December 22, 2004 10:57 PM |
|
Edited By: Consis on 22 Dec 2004
|
Archimedes (greek)
He lived (as far as we know) from 287 - 212 BC. Archimedes is known to all the world as the great Greek mathematician and inventor. Many of his studies focused on geometry, physics, hydrostatics(hydraulics), and mechanics. He is credited with discovering the principle (Archimedes principle) that an object immersed in fluid will lose in weight an amount equal to the weight of the fluid displaced. He also invented a mechanical device (Archimedes' screw) that raises water and calculated the value of  . His works include On the Sphere and Cylinder, On Spirals, and On the Method of Mechanical Theorems.
Here is a link that provides most (if not all) of the details of this great man:
 http://www.mcs.drexel.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/contents.html
At the website you can read many facts and opinions of/on Archimedes. My favorite opinion is taken from Alfred North Whitehead(1861-1947) and his "An Introduction to Mathematics" which was chronicled by Williams and Norgate, London, 1911(Oxford University Press, 1958, pages 25-26):
Quote:
The death of Archimedes by the hands of a Roman soldier is symbolical of a world-change of the first magnitude: the Greeks, with their love of abstract science, were superseded in the leadership of the European world by the practical Romans. Lord Beaconsfield, in one of his novels, has defined a practical man as a man who practises the errors of his forefathers. The Romans were a great race, but they were cursed with the sterility which waits upon practicality. They did not improve upon the knowledge of their forefathers, and all their advances were confined to the minor technical details of engineering. They were not dreamers enough to arrive at new points of view, which could give a more fundamental control over the forces of nature. No Roman lost his life because he was absorbed in the contemplation of a mathematical diagram.
I'm not sure but I think Archimedes is most widely known for his invention, the "Water Screw". This device made it possible for water to be pulled out of a river, or otherwise related body of water, to a higher elevation or ground using relatively little physical exertion.
____________
Roses Are Red And So Am I
|
|
Lord_Woock
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Daddy Cool with a $90 smile
|
posted December 22, 2004 11:03 PM |
|
|
Quote:
calculated the value of pie
Pies come in many different kinds and sizes and stuff and therefore I don't really understand how one could come up with a one and only true value of pie. Apple pie for example is probably worth more than plum pie.
____________
Yolk and God bless.
---
My buddy's doing a webcomic and would certainly appreciate it if you checked it out!
|
|
Lich
Adventuring Hero
|
|
posted December 22, 2004 11:05 PM |
|
|
Well... When I finished my shcool it was still called "pi" not pie.... well maybe something changed...
Cheese anyone ?
|
|
Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
|
posted December 22, 2004 11:15 PM |
|
|
Ok, ok
You guys got me. I mispelled pi. Hehehe
____________
Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
|
|
IYY
Responsible
Supreme Hero
REDACTED
|
|
posted December 22, 2004 11:18 PM |
|
|
Quote:
He is credited with discovering the principle (Archimedes principle) that an object immersed in fluid will lose in weight an amount equal to the weight of the fluid displaced.
If I'm not mistaken, it is said that upon making that discovery he ran around the streets naked shouting "eureka" 
____________
|
|
Lich
Adventuring Hero
|
|
posted December 22, 2004 11:22 PM |
|
|
|
It's ok, we all do typoes, our hands are quite inacurate compared to thoughts...
|
|
Lord_Woock
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Daddy Cool with a $90 smile
|
|
posted December 22, 2004 11:23 PM |
|
|
From which we learn that "eureka" means "quick! give me a towel!"
____________
Yolk and God bless.
---
My buddy's doing a webcomic and would certainly appreciate it if you checked it out!
|
|
Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
|
|
posted December 22, 2004 11:23 PM |
|
|
Yes, IYY
I've read that also.
But also when reading of his water screw, I am inexorably led to question if this science played a part in the function of the great and ancient Babylonian Gardens. As I recall my reading, I think I remember something about a complex system of lever-type devices designed to lift the water. But, what if they actually had Archimedes' water screw? Hmm
____________
Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
|
|
Romana
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Thx :D
|
|
posted December 23, 2004 11:13 AM |
|
|
Actually I recently watched a programme on discovery where some people tested said waterscrew.
Very smart indeed..
|
|
Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
|
posted January 07, 2005 03:14 PM |
|
Edited By: Consis on 7 Jan 2005
|
Hannibal's Time
I recently discovered that Archimedes died during the time of Hannibal of Carthage. Oh how truly exciting history has come to be for me. The great Hannibal, of whom could defeat even the greatest roman army and general but never actually win the war on the whole. I do so relish the truth of the historic roman empire slightly before its inception. I had always wondered what turned them from a "Republic" into an "Empire". Methinks Hannibal played a major part in helping Rome move closer to its destiny. For after his death, Rome would rule for another 500yrs. There would not be another serious foreign threat until Attila and the Huns. The Roman Empire would be brought to its knees at the hands of a combination of damning events, the least of which: a final Goth invasion and sacking of Rome itself led by the historically great King Alleric.
I am always taken aback so deeply from the might and awesome power of roman battle tactics, technology, art/culture, and philosophy.
"Sterility of practicality"......sigh...methinks I dream too often of once again seeing such philosophy become so popular in the minds of millions.
____________
Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
|
|
Svarog
Honorable
Supreme Hero
statue-loving necrophiliac
|
|
posted January 08, 2005 02:26 AM |
|
|
Quote:
I had always wondered what turned them from a "Republic" into an "Empire". Methinks Hannibal played a major part in helping Rome move closer to its destiny.
First time I hear someone connects Hannibal directly with Rome becoming an Empire. As a matter of fact, during the Punic Wars, the Roman Republic was at its height. Historians usually contribute the Republic's downfall to Julius Ceasar's apetites for power, but also the need for a stronger central authority, since the Senate proved incapable of effectively dealing with the problems all around the provinces.
____________
The meek shall inherit the earth, but NOT its mineral rights.
|
|
Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
|
|
posted January 08, 2005 08:01 AM |
|
Edited By: Consis on 8 Jan 2005
|
Please Correct Me If I'm Wrong
Battle of Cannae
http://www.roman-empire.net/army/cannae.html
Quote:
The battles with Hannibal were the largest contests Rome had ever fought by that time.
Defeat in this battle was a blow from which Rome should be reeling for some time to come. More than ever Rome needed brilliant generals, capable men of intelligence and imagination.
As I think about it, Hannibal seems to have successfully caused a new realization in the minds of Romans. It had occured to me that after the battle of Cannae, the roman way of life was more threatened of becoming extinct than it had ever been. It is my opinion that the threat Hannibal presented was so great that Rome had no choice but to defeat this ultimate enemy or lose itself all together. Enter Scipio Africanus, whom I believe was the first roman general with real thoughts of embarking toward imperialism.
Didn't Rome lay utter waste to Carthage? Was it not figuratively said that when they burned it to the ground, they 'sewed the soil with salt to prevent anything from ever growing there again'?
And what's more to support my theory is exactly who you have referenced Svarog. Julius Caesar knew better than anyone the only weakness of the roman army. He was the pinnacle of roman military genius and political savy. All that Rome was could be found in Julius Caesar. Rome was brutal, a web of deceptive politicians, practical, and ultimately bent on egomaniacal land/resource acquisitioning. The secret to all of this was the only roman weakness. As most historians will record, the roman army was the strongest at its fore front. However at the instant it became outflanked(which was a very difficult thing to do), it would cause some sort of mass-panic among the soldiers and many would even resort to killing their own fellows to flee the cauldron of death. Is that not what happened at Cannae? I believe that Julius Caesar educated himself and knew exactly what He would have done if it were him in those prior roman military defeats. He kept his friends close and his enemies even closer. I believe this is how he defeated Pompeii.
Now digress. I believe that it was Hannibal that caused a sort of world-culminating achievment. I believe that Hannibal was the best general the world had to bring the Romans to an end. To defeat him would mean that the Roman Republic had no equal in the world and no one could stand against them. In the open battlefields, he could not be beaten but he refused to sack Rome itself at least twice. I don't know if he couldn't or he wouldn't but because he didn't, the Romans devised a war of attrition. In fact it was almost a miniature world war due to the numerous different locations in which the Romans were waging it against Hannibal. And as I said, I believe it was through this carefully and disciplined approach that Rome realized its true potential to become a world dominator and empire.
____________
Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
|
|
Svarog
Honorable
Supreme Hero
statue-loving necrophiliac
|
|
posted January 09, 2005 05:07 AM |
|
|
Quote:
Enter Scipio Africanus, whom I believe was the first roman general with real thoughts of embarking toward imperialism.
I dont think there are indications that he had such ambitions, as far as I know.
Quote:
In the open battlefields, he could not be beaten but he refused to sack Rome itself at least twice.
No enemy of Rome in his right mind would refuse to sack the city, if given the chance. He tried to take the city but failed. Then he lost in Capua, and then he turned his tail home.
Quote:
In fact it was almost a miniature world war due to the numerous different locations in which the Romans were waging it against Hannibal.
Being pedantical here, but I have to remind you that the "center of the world" then were still Greece, Macedonia, Persia and Egypt. 
Quote:
And as I said, I believe it was through this carefully and disciplined approach that Rome realized its true potential to become a world dominator and empire.
I dont downplay the importance of Carthage's downfall in Rome's emergence as leading power, but the question you asked, and I'm trying to answer, is the role Carthage had in Rome becoming an Empire. imo, none; maybe as another step closer to the future. But the senators of that time believed the Republic to be the most effective form of rule, so they imagined a great Rome, but as a Republic, not an Empire.
If you are interested in (boring) historical factography about Rome and much more, I know a forum where there are guys obsessed with just that.
____________
The meek shall inherit the earth, but NOT its mineral rights.
|
|
Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
|
posted May 22, 2005 04:49 PM |
|
Edited By: Consis on 22 May 2005
|
Undeciphered Pages
Quote:
A particle accelerator is being used to reveal the long-lost writings of the Greek mathematician Archimedes, work hidden for centuries after a Christian monk wrote over it in the Middle Ages. Highly focused X-rays produced at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in Menlo Park, California were used last week to begin deciphering the parts of the 174-page text that have not yet been revealed. The X-rays cause iron in the hidden ink to glow.
Scholars believe the treatise was copied by a scribe in the 10th century from Archimedes' original Greek scrolls, written in the third century B.C. It was erased about 200 years later by a monk who reused the parchment for a prayer book, creating a twice-used parchment book known as a "palimpsest." In the 12th century, parchment(scraped and dried animal skins) was rare and costly, and Archimedes' works were in less demand.
The palimpsest was bought at auction for $2 million in 1998 by an anonymous private collector who loaned it to the Baltimore museum and funded studies to reveal the text. About 80 percent of the text has been uncovered so far.
I certainly wouldn't want to be remembered as "The Eraser-Monk".
Quote:
Stanford physicist Uwe Bergmann normally uses the accelerator, in which electrons are pushed to near the speed of light, to study the structure of water, and how water is split to create oxygen during photosynthesis. While reading an article on the text, Bergmann realized he could use a particle accelerator to detect small amounts of iron in the ink. The electrons speeding along the circular accelerator emit X-rays that can be used to cause the iron to fluoresce or glow.
He remarked that "Anything which contains iron will be shown, and anything that doesn't contain iron will not be shown," Bergmann said.
Most of the text has been revealed by scientists at Johns Hopkins University and the Rochester Institute of Technology who used digital cameras and processing techniques as well as ultraviolet and infrared filters developed for medicine and space research. The Archimedes Palimpsest includes the only copy of the treatise "Method of Mechanical Theorems," in which Archimedes explains how he used mechanical means to develop his mathematical theorems. It is also the only source in the original Greek for the treatise "On Floating Bodies," in which Archimedes deals with the physics of flotation and gravity. All fascinating really, truly fascinating.
____________
Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
|
|
Khaelo
Honorable
Supreme Hero
Underwater
|
|
posted May 22, 2005 08:12 PM |
|
|
Yes, the high tech folks have been busy in Classics:
Oxyrhynchus Papyri revealed.
In that case, the texts are illegible due to time, not medieval recycling.
____________
 Cleverly
disguised as a responsible adult
|
|
Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
|
posted May 23, 2005 06:08 PM |
|
|
Khaelo Thankyou!
That is a wonderful website! Thankyou for providing the link.
____________
Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
|
|
|
|
