![]() So, like another brilliant thinker of his time, Aristarchus (who was about 23 years older), Archimedes believed that the Earth and planets must travel around the Sun. His models told him there was a problem with the concept of an Earth-centered universe. He built small planetariums in order to make the heavens and those spheres understandable. While he didn’t get the number right, he was unusual in being willing to consider gigantic numbers.Īrchimedes was the son of an astronomer and, like his dad, and like Aristotle and most thinkers of his time, he thought the stars and planets were attached to solid but transparent spheres. universe." Grains of sand to fill the whole universe? That would be some number, even though the universe to the Greeks was only what you can see with your eyes. the number of the mass of sand equal in magnitude to the. This time he said, "I will try to show you by means of geometrical proofs, which you will be able to follow, that, of the numbers named by me. He was trying to prove two things: that numbers are infinite–you can never have a last number-and that it is possible to deal with really big numbers.Īrchimedes sent off a letter to King Hiero II announcing his book. In a book called The Sand Reckoner, Archimedes estimated the number of grains of sand needed to fill the universe. But the universe? Could someone, even then, have been thinking of space travel? For Archimedes, with one of the most creative minds the world has known, nothing was beyond consideration. Those first two kinds of measurements have important practical uses in Archimedes' time, as they do now. Why would you want to measure the volume of a sphere? Or a cylinder? For starters, it would let you measure the water in a pipeline, the wood in a log, or the size of the universe. Then he figured out how to measure them all. ![]() And he studied pyramids, cubes, cones, cylinders, spheres, and other polyhedrons (to name a few solid shapes). Archimedes especially loved geometry, which is all about shapes: triangles and rectangles as well as other polygons (to name a few flat shapes). They did pay attention to Archimedes (287-212 B.C.E.), who discovered so many mathematical theorems, wrote so many scientific books and papers, and invented so many things, that hardly anyone could keep up with his accomplishments. It sounded as if he were bragging, although everyone knew that Archimedes (ar-kuh-MEE-deez) wasn't a braggart. But he did tell King Hiero II (ruler of the Greek city-state of Syracuse), "Give me somewhere to stand and I will move the earth." Now that would be quite a feat! The Greek god Atlas was supposed to be holding the heavens on his shoulders-but hardly anyone took that tale seriously.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |