![]() ![]() Experimentation and observation were thus the basis of his successful method, at a time when science was taking its first steps. In the 20th century, historian Johan Ludvig Heiberg deciphered the text in which Archimedes explained his method: he would explore through mechanics the mathematical relationship he wished to establish and would then look for its geometric demonstration. This is revealed in a letter he wrote to Eratosthenes of Cyrene, then librarian and director of the Alexandria Museum, where Archimedes had studied in his youth. In addition, practice was for him a way of making tangible what really fascinated him: the theory. This could have been, according to some experts, one of the main motivations of Archimedes to promote his facet of engineer. What is certain is that Archimedes was a man of science and also highly valued by the court of King Hieron II, to whom he was a close advisor and with whom he worked on military strategy. The unknown engineerĪs an engineer, history attributes to him the invention of tools such as Archimedes' lever or screw -and of war machines such as the catapult, the heat ray or the Claw of Archimedes- but his written legacy makes no mention of these inventions. The Palimpsest of Archimedes, from the 10th century, contains the only existing known copies of The Method of Mechanical Theorems and On Floating Bodies. Nowadays it is available to everyone in digital format thanks to The Archimedes Palimpsest Project. An article published in the journal The Mathematical Intelligencer explains the epic feat of Reviel Netz and William Noel, who deciphered the manuscript after it had been lost for several millennia and was in a complicated state of preservation. The third, a codex containing Archimedes Palimpsest, was sold in New York for $2 million at a Christie's auction in 1998. Three manuscripts preserve the texts of Archimedes' original treatises in Greek. What has come down to us regarding the figure of Archimedes is a mixture of direct information from his writings combined with references from great historians about his life and work. This personage was already an enigma for those Roman historians who compiled his work decades after his death (Plutarch, Diodorus, Titus Livius.), so it is easy to understand that today it is difficult to distinguish myth from reality. This is where Archimedes' life ended, and where his legend began, which has made him a mythical figure of science and of engineering. – 212 B.C.) lived most of his life in Syracuse, on the island of Sicily, which at that time belonged to Greece and would eventually succumb to the Roman siege during the Second Punic War. Prolific inventor, mechanical engineer and war strategist -as well as a pioneer of science- his life story could fill a great saga of television fiction. ![]() ![]() Annual Report and Individual financial statements. ![]()
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