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Archimedes of Syracuse

by Victor Aarón from Tampico

EUREKA! EUREKA!

Today you will read about one of my biggest heroes. He is one of the greatest philosophers, mathematics, astronomers, inventor and engineer in history, everybody knows him, and his name is Archimedes of Syracuse. Thanks to him we have different kinds of tools that nowadays they are very useful, like the pulley, an excellent invention which is also one of the most useful tools nowadays. Archimedes also created the screw; this last invention is an invention that even though there have been a lot of years since the screw was created by Archimedes we continue using it!

Archimedes demonstrated his intelligence more than one time. For example the king Hieron II challenged him because Archimedes told him- if you give me a place to support in the universe I will lift the earth by myself. The king thought that he wanted to fool him so Hieron II challenged him to move a ship. Archimedes accepted but he told Hieron II to make sure that the ship was full of marines so it can be heavier. That’s when Archimedes proved that by using the pulley he could pull a ship full of marines and with a minimum of effort.

Archimedes showed the king that the mind does not have limits. And that’s what we all should do when we are thinking to quit in the different tasks that life puts in our way. Also when the king saw that Archimedes could pull the ship, he challenged Archimedes to investigate how Hieron II could know if his crown was really from pure gold or if the goldsmith swindled him. So Archimedes since never gives up, he accepted the challenge. He took a lot of time before knowing how to measure the gold purity. Then while he was taking a bath in the public bathrooms, he noticed that when he submerged, the water spilled out of the bathtub and he understand that the volume of the water that spilled out was the same amount of the volume his body had, so he jumped out the bathtub and ran to his house yelling- EUREKA! EUREKA! This in English means I found it! I found it!

So that’s why we, all the people, have a little piece of Archimedes inside our bodies because, even though people tell you you're crazy, that doesn’t mean that you are crazy. And instead of listening to negative comments, you should continue your way until you reach YOUR GOALS! As Archimedes did.

Page created on 5/26/2009 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 5/26/2009 12:00:00 AM

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