DLC Blog

Ancient Greek WMD?

Presenting... The Archimedes Death Ray!

Archimedes (287 BC - 212 BC) is considered by some math historians to be one of history's greatest mathematicians. He proved that the ratio of a circle's perimeter to its diameter is the same as the ratio of the circle's area to the square of the radius. He proved that the area enclosed by a parabola and a straight line is 4/3 the area of a triangle with equal base and height. He also calculated the oldest known example of a geometric series, and his work certainly contributed to the development of integral calculus. He was also an interesting character; upon discovering several properties of density and buoyancy while taking a bath, he ran naked through the streets shouting "eureka!"

Most notably, however, he was known for preventing a Roman attack on Syracuse by using a large array of mirrors to reflect sunlight, and thusly, set fire to the invading ships. For two thousand years, this was dismissed as a mere "myth"... but recently, some students decided to test the feasibility of the "Archimedes Death Ray." For more information on their experiment (and the results), check out their article, linked above.

Posted by Ryan at October 14, 2005 01:45 PM in Math.