April 2013 – Page 5

A Legacy

“Don’t disturb my circles!” Archimedes Rome wanted control of Syracuse, Sicily for strategic purposes. Archimedes was an old man; some suggest nearing 80, when Roman ships closed in on his city in 212 B.C. Even as Syracuse was being besieged, Archimedes continued inventing all kinds of clever contraptions to keep the enemy at bay. ButContinue reading “A Legacy”

Eureka

“Any object, wholly or partially immersed in a fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.” Archimedes King Heiron had another problem. Who else should he turn to but his old friend, Archimedes, who recently helped him out of a rather embarrassing situation involving theContinue reading “Eureka”

I Will Move The Earth

“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” Archimedes The Syracusia, a luxurious ship weighing in at 4,064 tons, sat uselessly on shore, a beached monstrosity. “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shallContinue reading “I Will Move The Earth”

A Best Seller

“Which was to be proved.” Euclid “Elements” by the famed Euclid of Alexandria, has been on the bestsellers list for thousands of years. It is the most widely translated, published and studied mathematical book in the western world. To this day, mathematicians refer to the basic rules about triangles, squares, and circles as Euclidean geometry.Continue reading “A Best Seller”

There is Always a Beginning

“The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God.” Euclid Science has been with us for some time. While our generation, as all generations before, may claim that the greatest scientific discoveries have been on our watch, perhaps we are simply participants in a greater mission that began centuries ago. It is ourContinue reading “There is Always a Beginning”

The Narratives of Science Part I

“In France, a chemist named Pilatre de Rozier tested the flammability of hydrogen by gulping a mouthful and blowing across an open flame, proving at a stroke that hydrogen is indeed explosively combustible and that eyebrows are not necessarily a permanent feature of one’s face.” Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything If you stopContinue reading “The Narratives of Science Part I”