Life of Archimedes

Archimedes (c. 287-212 BC) was born in a small village near Syracuse, Greece. He was born into a noble family, related to King Hieron of Syracuse, and his family was very wealthy. Archimedes' father was an astronomer and mathematician, a man of great learning and humility. Influenced by his family, Archimedes developed a keen interest in mathematics, astronomy, and especially geometry in ancient Greece from an early age. When he was just eleven years old, he was sent to Alexandria, Egypt, to study, thanks to his connections to the royal family. Located at the mouth of the Nile, Alexandria was one of the centers of cultural trade at the time. It has majestic museums, libraries, and a large number of talents, and is known as the "City of Wisdom" by the world. Archimedes studied and lived here for many years, and had close contacts with many scholars. He embraced the outstanding cultural heritage of the East and Ancient Greece and made significant contributions to his subsequent scientific career. In 212 BC, the ancient Roman army invaded Syracuse, and Archimedes was killed by Roman soldiers at the age of seventy-five. Archimedes' remains are buried in Sicily, and the tombstone is engraved with a figure of a cylindrical inscribed sphere in honor of his remarkable contribution to geometry. Archimedes' achievements

Archimedes is arguably the greatest mathematician and scientist produced by ancient Greek civilization, and his outstanding contributions to many fields of science earned him the high respect of his contemporaries.

Archimedes obtained the area and volume of parabolic bows, spirals, and circles, as well as the volumes of complex geometries such as ellipsoids and paraboloids. In the process of deriving these formulas, he skillfully used the "exhaustion method", which is what we today call a step-by-step approximation of the limit, and is therefore recognized as the originator of calculus calculations. He also used this method to estimate that the ∏ value is between and , and derived the solution of the cubic equation. Faced with the tedious representation of numbers in ancient Greece, Archimedes proposed an important set of hierarchical calculations and used it to solve many mathematical problems. Archimedes was most prominent in mechanics, which were mainly focused on statics and hydrostatics. In the process of studying machinery, he discovered the principle of levers, and used this principle to design and build many machines. In the course of his study of floating bodies, he discovered the law of buoyancy, also known as Archimedes' law.

Archimedes also had outstanding achievements in astronomy. He designed balls, joined them with string and sticks, mimicking the movement of the sun, moon and stars, and used the power of water to turn them. In this way, solar and lunar eclipses can be vividly expressed. Archimedes believed that the earth was spherical and revolved around the sun, a view that predates Copernicus's "heliocentric theory" by 1,800 years. Due to the conditions at the time, he did not conduct in-depth and systematic research on this issue. But it is remarkable that such an insight was made as early as the third century B.C. Archimedes wrote many works, and as a mathematician, he wrote "On Spheres and Cylinders", "On Splitting Cone Surfaces and Spheres", "Parabolic Quadratics", "On Spirals" and other mathematical works. As a mechanic, he is the author of "On the Balance of Flat Plates", "On Floating Bodies", "On Levers", "On the Center of Gravity" and other mechanical works. In On the Equilibrium of the Flat Plate, he systematically demonstrated the principle of leverage. In On Floating Bodies, he argues for the law of floating bodies.

Archimedes was not only brilliant in theory, but also a practical engineer. During his lifetime, he designed and built many mechanisms and machines, in addition to lever systems, it is worth mentioning that there are also weight lifting pulleys, irrigators, water lifters, and military projectors. The water lifter, known as the "Archimedes Lifting Auger", was invented to drain water out of the hold of a large ship. The water pump can be transported to high places using a screw handle, which has been widely used in Egypt and is the predecessor of the modern screw pump. "Give me a fulcrum and I will move the earth"

Archimedes was not only a theorist but also a practitioner, and throughout his life he devoted himself to applying his scientific discoveries to practice, thus combining the two. In Egypt, around 1,500 years ago, people used levers to lift heavy objects, but people did not know how to do it. Archimedes studied this phenomenon and discovered the principle of leverage.

King Henonon had always been skeptical of Archimedes' theories. He asked Archimedes to turn them into living examples to be convincing. Archimedes said, "Give me a fulcrum, and I will move the earth." The king said, "I am afraid that this will not be possible, but you should help me to drag the great ship on the coast."

"The boat was made by King Henon for the king of Egypt, and it was large and quite heavy, and because it could not be moved, it had been stranded on the coast for many days. Archimedes agreed. Archimedes designed an intricate system of lever pulleys to be installed on the ship, handing one end of the rope to King Henon. King Henon gently pulled the rope, and a miracle happened, and the great ship slowly moved and finally descended into the sea. The king was amazed and admired Archimedes so much that he sent a proclamation saying, "From now on, whatever Archimedes says, believe him." ”

The Mystery of the Golden Crown

King Henon asked the goldsmith to make him a crown of pure gold, and when it was done, the king suspected that the craftsman had mixed silver with the crown, but the crown was as heavy as the pure gold that had been given to the goldsmith. The question of wanting to check the authenticity without destroying the crown not only stumped the king, but also caused the ministers to look at each other. Later, the king gave it to Archimedes. Archimedes tried to figure out many ways to do it, but they all failed. One day, he went to the bathhouse to take a bath, and while he was sitting in the bath, he saw the water overflowing and at the same time felt his body being gently dragged up. It dawned on him that he jumped out of the bathtub and ran straight to the palace without even putting on his clothes, shouting "Eureka" (Fureka, I see) all the way, and it occurred to him that if the amount of water discharged by the crown was not equal to the amount of water discharged by the same weight of gold, it must have been mixed with other metals. This is known as the law of buoyancy, which states that an object immersed in a liquid experiences an upward buoyant force equal to the weight of the liquid expelled. Later, the law was named Archimedes' law.

Patriot Archimedes

In Archimedes' later years, when the Roman army invaded Syracuse, Archimedes instructed his compatriots to create many offensive and defensive weapons. When Marcellese, the leader of the invading army, led his people to attack the city, he designed a trebuchet to beat the enemy to the point of crying and crying. He built an iron claw crane that lifted and reversed enemy ships and threw them into the depths of the sea. Legend has it that he also led the people of Syracuse in making a large concave mirror to focus the sunlight on approaching enemy ships and incinerate them. The Roman soldiers, already terrified by the frequent blows, were so frightened that when they saw ropes or logs thrown out of the city, they exclaimed, "Archimedes is coming," and fled with their heads in their hands. The Roman army was held back from the city for three years. Eventually, in 212 BCE, the Romans took advantage of the slight slackening of the ancient city of Syrac and invaded the city with a major attack. At this time, Archimedes was immersed in a profound mathematical problem, and a Roman soldier broke in and trampled on the figure he had drawn, and Archimedes argued angrily with him, and the brutal soldier would not listen, only to see him raise his sword and wave, and a brilliant scientific superstar fell. Barreni Overcoming Disability - Insisting that Barreni became disabled as a child, her mother's heart was like a knife, but she still held back her grief. She thinks that what children need most now is encouragement and help, not their mother's tears. The mother came to Barreni's bedside, took him by the hand and said, "Son, my mother believes that you are an ambitious person, and hopes that you can use your legs to walk bravely on the road of life!" Okay Barrene, will you be able to promise Mom? His mother's words struck Barrenny's heart like a hammer, and he threw himself into his mother's arms and cried. Since then, whenever her mother has free time, she has practiced walking and gymnastics for Bareni, often sweating profusely. Once my mother had a bad cold, she thought that mothers should not only talk about it, but also teach it by example. Despite a high fever, she got out of bed and helped Barreni practice walking as planned. Soybean-like sweat trickled down her mother's face, and she wiped it with a dry towel, gritted her teeth, and helped Barenny complete the day's workout plan. Physical activity compensates for the inconvenience caused to Barreni due to his disability. His mother's role model taught Barreni deeply, and he finally withstood the harsh blows of fate. He studied hard and was consistently at the top of his class. In the end, he was admitted to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Vienna with excellent grades. After graduating from university, Barenane devoted his entire life to the study of otological neurology. Finally, he finally reached the podium of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. Joule's curiosity - studiousThe famous British scientist Joule has been very fond of physics since he was a child, and he often does some experiments on electricity and heat by himself. One year off, Joule traveled to the countryside with his brother. The intelligent and studious Joule did not forget to do his physics experiments even when he was playing. He found a lame horse, led by his brother, and quietly hid behind himself, using a voltaic battery to send electricity to the horse, wanting to test the animal's reaction to being stimulated by an electric current. As a result, the reaction he wanted to see appeared, and the horse jumped wildly after receiving the electric shock, almost kicking his brother. Despite the danger that had arisen, it did not affect Joule's mood in the slightest. He and Giggle rowed again to the lake surrounded by mountains, where Joule wanted to test how loud the echo was. They stuffed their muskets with gunpowder and pulled the trigger. With a "bang", a long flame erupted from the muzzle of the gun, burning Joule's eyebrows and almost scaring his brother into the lake. At this time, the sky was thick with clouds, lightning and thunder, and Joule, who had just wanted to go ashore to escape the rain, found that the thunder could only be heard after a while after each lightning. Joule didn't care to hide from the rain, so he dragged his brother up a hill and carefully recorded the time between lightning and thunder with his pocket watch. After the start of school, Joule almost couldn't wait to tell the teacher about all the experiments he had done and ask the teacher for advice. The teacher looked at the inquisitive Joule and smiled, and patiently explained to him: "The speed of light and sound is different, the speed of light is fast and the speed of sound is slow, so people always want to see lightning and then hear thunder, but in fact, lightning and thunder occur at the same time. Joule listened, and it dawned on him. Since then, he has become more fascinated by learning about science. Through continuous study and careful observation of calculations, he finally discovered the law of heat work equivalent and conservation of energy, and became an excellent scientist. Telegraph and newspaper fan Edison - insist that Edison is the world's famous inventor, and he has more than 1,000 inventions, such as electric lights, gramophones, movie machines, etc. However, because of the poverty of his family, Edison only went to school for a few years, and he went to the train to sell newspapers at the age of twelve. Unable to go to school, he taught himself. He is very fond of learning, selling newspapers while reading books and newspapers, and seizing time to study and do experiments. Edison's father was very strict with the family, and he stipulated that the whole family must turn off the lights and go to bed by half past eleven every night. However, Edison often came home at 11 p.m. after selling newspapers, so he didn't have time to do his favorite experiments when he got home. This was simply unbearable for Edison, who liked to learn and explore on his own. So he thought about it and finally came up with a good way to get his father to support him in the experiment. One day, Edison set up wires in the trees with copper wires and took them directly to his close friend's house, leaving the leftover newspaper and a telegraph machine from the day's sale. When he got home in the evening, his father wanted to read the newspaper, and Edison said that the newspaper was sold out today. At first, his father was not very sorry. In order to arouse his father's interest, Edison began to talk about how fresh and interesting the content of today's newspaper was, and it was a pity that he didn't read it. Edison's dad really wanted to see it when he heard him talk about it so vividly. So he asked Edison if he could find a way to find one. Edison said that his friend Belle still had a copy, and he could send the contents of the newspaper by telegram. At this time, Edison's father wanted to read the newspaper, so he happily agreed to him. Edison's father was very happy to see that his son's homemade earthen telegraph was really working. I thought to myself, this kid is not simple! From then on, he never stopped Edison's telegraph experiments at night. Later, after hard work, Edison finally became the world's great scientist.

The story of Lu Xun's love of reading When Lu Xun was young, his family conditions were very bad. In order to study, he took 8 yuan and went on the road. Just this 8 yuan, his mother tried to get it for him in many ways. In Nanjing, he entered the Jiangnan Sailor School, which was a free school, however, Lu Xun soon found that the school spirit here was not very good, and he transferred to another mining road school attached to the Lu Division. The Mine Road School is new, not only free, but also has more student allowances, so that Lu Xun can buy more books and cultural supplies. Lu Xun loved to read, at that time, it was the period of the introduction of Western culture, almost every month there were excellent Western books published, in order to buy these books, Lu Xun was frugal, thrifty, hungry from time to time, cold winter, he also wore a thin jacket. Lu Xun is the youngest in the class, but he is the one with the best grades, he has a strong ability to understand and remember, and usually studies hard, so he almost returned to the first. The Mine Road School has a complete reward and punishment system, and a third prize medal will be awarded to those who have excellent results in each small examination; Several third-prize medals can be exchanged for a second-prize medal; If you have accumulated a number of second-class medals, a first-class medal will be awarded. The first-class medal is gold and is worth a lot of money. Lu Xun was the only one in his class who had won a gold medal, and he sold the medal in exchange for many excellent books. Some students find it incomprehensible that the gold medal is an infinite honor among students. In Lu Xun's view, books were more useful than medals, and he did not need anything to satisfy his vanity, and Lu Xun maintained this humble character for the rest of his life. Lu Xun wrote a large number of excellent works in his life, his works are often profound, the penmanship is cold, concise, and deeply loved by the people, some people say that this achievement comes from Lu Xun's genius, and some praise Lu Xun is a genius writer in person, Lu Xun said with emotion: "Where is the genius?" I spend all my coffee time at work. The genius of the world is bought in exchange for labor - Tong Dizhou's reading story Biologist Tong Dizhou was born in a small mountain village in Yinxian County, Zhejiang. His family was poor and could not afford to go to school, so he could only read ancient books with his father while helping the family work. At the age of seventeen, Tong Dizhou wanted to apply for Ningbo Xiaoshi Middle School. This middle school is a prestigious school in Zhejiang Province, with particularly high enrollment results, and only third-grade transfer students are admitted during the year. The family advised him not to be whimsical, however, Tong Dizhou replied confidently: "I'll fight for a summer vacation, and I'm going to go!" As a result of the exam, Tong Dizhou was really admitted. He became the first transfer student in the history of Xiaoshi Middle School to pass the third grade without going to middle school. However, many people are still speculating whether this mountain village baby can keep up with work. In the first semester, he scored only 45 points overall, and he did poorly in English. The school mobilized him to withdraw or be demoted. With tears in his eyes, he repeatedly begged the principal to study with the class for another semester. After the school reluctantly agreed, he overcame the difficulties with amazing perseverance. Before dawn in the morning, he quietly got up and read a foreign language under the street lamp; At night, his classmates slept, but he still stood under the street lamp and studied his homework. The superintendent found out and turned off the street lights and forced him into the house. He took advantage of the superintendent's inattention, and ran to study under the lamp outside the toilet, which moved the superintendent as well. In this way, he finally caught up in the second semester, with an overall average of 70 points and a 100 points in geometry. Until his later years, Tong Dizhou still remembered this vividly, saying: "It made me know that I am not stupider than others." What others can do, I can do with hard work. The genius of the world is bought by labor. ”