Archimedes

Greek theater at Syracuse

Archimedes was born about 287 BC, so he was a little younger than Euclid. His father was an astronomer. He was related to the tyrant who ruled Syracuse, on the island of Sicily, and he lived his whole life in Sicily. He worked mainly in a losing battle to defend his city-state from the Romans, who were attacking Syracuse in the course of the First Punic War.

To find out more about Archimedes, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:

Greek and Roman Science, by Don Nardo (1998). Nardo has written a lot of good books about the ancient world for kids; this one is no exception.

Ancient Science: 40 Time-Traveling, World-Exploring, History-Making Activities for Kids, by Jim Wiese (2003). Activities, as the title says - how to make your own sundial, and so on. The author is a science teacher.

Early Greek Science: Thales to Aristotle, by Geoffrey Lloyd (1974).

History of Greek Mathematics: From Aristarchus to Diophantus, by Thomas L. Heath (1921, reprinted 1981). A lot of Euclid, but also describes who the other major Greek mathematicians were and what they did.

Episodes from the Early History of Mathematics, by Asger Aaboe (1997).

Other mathematicians:

Aristotle, Anaxagoras, Euclid, Pythagoras, and Aristarchus.

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