The Great Archimedes

Archimedes was undoubtedly one of the most generous, original, and prolific scientists of all human history. . . . Written with amiable simplicity but also exemplary clarity and competence by Mario Geymonat, and enriched with a series of considerable illustrations, this book represents an important contribution to the popularization of this great protagonist of our history and science. Thanks to this work, Archimedes—distant though he is—will continue to be an example for new generations, stimulating interest in the complex and difficult scientific questions of today.—from the preface Zhores I. Alferov, Winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Physics

In this exclusive English edition of the elucidating and award-winning investigation of Archimedes' life, Mario Geymonat provides fresh insights into one of the greatest minds in the history of humankind. Archimedes (ca 287 BCE-ca 212 BCE) was a mathematician, physicist, scientist, and engineer. Born in Syracuse, Sicily, the Greek Archimedes was an inventor par excellence. He not only explored the displacement of water and sand, worked out the principle of levers, developed an approximation of pi, discovered ways to determine the areas and volumes of solids, and invented the monumental Archimedes' screw (a machine for raising water), Archimedes also developed machinery that his fellow Syracusans successfully employed to defend their native city against the Romans. The Great Archimedes is already a highly acclaimed telling of the life and mind of one of antiquity's most important and innovative thinkers, and, now in translation, it is sure to be cherished by experts and novices alike across the English-speaking world. This wonderfully illustrated and multifarious book is enriched by numerous quotations and testimonies from ancient sources.