• 287-212 BCE, Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, and astronomer from Syracuse
  • principle of buoyancy (Archimedes’ principle): a body immersed in fluid experiences upward force equal to the weight of displaced fluid
  • lever principle: “give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth,” formalizing mechanical advantage
  • approximated pi between 3+10/71 and 3+1/7 using inscribed and circumscribed 96-sided polygons
  • method of exhaustion: precursor to integral calculus, computing areas and volumes of curved shapes
  • invented the Archimedes screw for water lifting, compound pulleys, and defensive war machines
  • The Method: revealed his heuristic approach of slicing figures into infinitesimal strips, anticipating infinitesimal calculus by nearly two millennia
  • greatest mathematician and engineer of antiquity