287 BC

Events in 287 BC 2

• 287 BC – 212 BC Archimedes of Syracuse The greatest mathematician and engineer of antiquity Archimedes (c.287–212 BC) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer and inventor born in Syracuse, Sicily. Son of the astronomer Phidias, he was possibly related to King Hiero II of Syracuse. He is ranked alongside Newton and Gauss as one of the three greatest mathematicians of all time. He left nine surviving treatises covering geometry, hydrostatics, statics and mathematical physics, and invented war machines that held Rome at bay for two years. He died when Roman soldiers breached Syracuse in 212 BC — allegedly while working on a geometry problem.
• 287 BC – 212 BC Archimedes — buoyancy, lever and pi The greatest scientist of antiquity Archimedes of Syracuse (c.287–212 BC) discovered the principle of buoyancy — that a body submerged in fluid experiences an upward force equal to the weight of fluid it displaces — reputedly while stepping into his bath. He proved the law of the lever, calculated pi as lying between 3 10/71 and 3 1/7, determined the surface area and volume of a sphere, and laid the foundations of hydrostatics and statics. He also invented the Archimedes screw for raising water and designed war machines to defend Syracuse against the Romans.