Archimedes!

 Archimedes: Eureka!

By Seamus Dougherty

Archimedes was the most gifted person of his time. I am going to tell you a story of Archimedes' s life.

Archimedes was born on 287, B.C. His father was Phidias the Astronomer. His family hung an olive branch on their door in celebration of his birth.  When he was a teenager he went to Alexandria, Egypt to study. When he got back, this happened:    

In a place called Syracuse, King Hiero called on Archimedes. King Hiero had just got a new crown, but doubted it was made of pure gold. So he asked Archimedes to check. Well, Archimedes thought and thought and thought some more, until he thought he should take a bath. When, he realized that while he was in the tub, the water raised and when he got out, the water lowered.

He was so pleased that he ran around shouting: "Eureka (I have found it)". When he got back to his home, he measured the density of the gold. And then he found out that the King had been cheated. Well, that's the end of that story.

When he was old, the Romans attacked Syracuse and King Hiero asked Archimedes to help. He did more than help; he won the battle for Syracuse!  Archimedes made catapults that looked like the Gods were throwing stones at the Romans. Later, the Romans got in to Syracuse by betrayal, not by besting Archimedes's catapults. When Archimedes was doing math problems, a Roman soldier came to take him. The Roman told Archimedes to come, Archimedes told him to wait. Then the Roman stabbed him in the back.

Archimedes was a brilliant man. His tomb says: "do not disturb my circles".    

My take on the experience:
http://beingthehorizon.blogspot.com/2013/02/eureka-things-dead-mathmatician-taught.html