The King's Golden Crown

Archimedes (287-212 B.C.) was a Greek, a native of Syracuse, a city in Sicily. He was a great friend and probably a relative of the two kings of Syracuse under whom he worked.

Like other young scientists of his day, he studied in Alexandria. His greatest work was in pure mathematics and unlike many of the Greek thinkers, he applied his science to practical ends.

His friend King Hiero, ordered a golden crown, and gave the jeweler a certain weight of gold with which to make it.

When the crown arrived it was very handsome, but the jeweler was suspected of substituting silver for some of the gold, and the King ordered Archimedes to find out the truth.

The crown weighed the same as the gold which the King had given to the jeweler. For a time, Archimedes was puzzled by the question -- Was there some silver mixed with the gold in the crown?

Archimedes solved the problem while taking a bath in one of the public bathing places of Syracuse. As he stepped into the bath, some of the water ran over the top. The solution flashed into his mind, and the story is that without taking time to dress he rushed down the street toward his home, shouting,

"Eureka! Eureka! I have found it! I have found it!"

What was the solution?

The crown (like his own body) would displace a volume of water equal to its own volume. However, since gold is heavier than silver, a pure gold crown would be smaller in size than one of the same weight alloyed with silver and hence would displace less water.

Tests showed that the jeweler had stolen some gold. The idea of specific gravity was developed from this.

Once Archimedes said, "Give me a place to stand and I can move the earth!"

The King answered that he would be satisfied if Archimedes would move a heavy ship in the harbor. By using a compound series of levers, Archimedes moved the ship with a slight effort.

Most of us have probably read of the great wars between the two ancient cities of Carthage and Rome -- the terrible struggle which are known to historians as the Punic Wars. Syracuse sided with Carthage and was attacked by a powerful Roman fleet and army.

The overwhelming forces of Rome finally conquered, but the Syracusans held out for two years. According to Plutarch (who reported the event three hundred years later), machines designed by Archimedes terrified the Roman soldiers. Said Platarch,

"Huge beams were shot over the ships from the walls, sinking some fo the ships. other ships were seized at the prow by iron claws, or beaks like the beaks of cranes, drawn straight up into the air, and then plunged down into the depths. . . ."

At last the Romans became so fearful that, whenever they saw a bit of rope or a stick of timber projecting a little over the wall, they cried,

"There it is! Archimedes is training some engine," and turned their backs and fled."

When the Romans finally burst into the city, Archimedes was quietly working at a mathematical problem, which he had traced in the sand. If the story told by the old historians is true, a Roman soldier rushed up with drawn sword, demanding his name.

The old scientist order the soldier to be careful that he did spoil the figure in the sand. Enraged, the soldier ran through him with his sword.

Lucretius (about 95-55 B.C.) was a poet of Rome, and not a scientist. Yet, he merits notice because he wrote a long poem entitled, On The Nature of Things, based on science.

Pliny the Elder (23-79 A.D.) was also a Roman. He wrote an important book of facts which he called Natural History. In it he quoted from about two thousand works by one hundred and forty-six Roman and three hundred and twenty-six Greek authors. Sadly, he lost his life when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D.

Most of the books he quoted from have been lost. However, you can gain from Pliny's work the knowledge that the study of science had made great progress by that time.

Hero, who lived about 100 A.D., was a Greek inventor. He made a steam engine (a sort of primitive turbine) and many scientific toys and conjuring tricks, as well as a number of practical inventions.

The Loss And Decline of Science And Knowledge

After the Mediterranean countries were conquered by Rome, Greek science began to decline. With all their other great qualities, the Romans did not care much for pure science and did little to advance it, although they were great builders and engineers, as their aqueducts and places show.

During the decline of Rome and during the early Middle Ages, things grew worse.

Not only were there no advances in science, but most of the science of the Greeks were forgotten. From about 400 to about 1200 A.D. there were little advances made in science in Europe.

We tend to think of the West (that is Europe) as the home of science, and of Oriental countries as unprogressive. However, liberal caliphs of Baghdad, such as Harounal-Rashid (about 765-800), caused the works of the great Greek scientists to be translated into Arabic and studied.

Later, when science began to revive in the West, the Europeans made use of the Arabic discoveries, and in fact, only recovered much of the work of the great Greeks by translating it from Arabic. The worlds "algebra" and "chemistry", for instance, came to us from the Arabic.

Although little progress was made in theoretical science during the Middle Ages, some very important practical inventions were made. Paper came into use, supplanting the clumsy papyrus and expensive parchment (made from the skins of animals).

Spectacles were invented (imagine a near-sighted botanist or astronomer without glasses!).

The mariner's compass came into sue and so did better timing devices. Toward the end of the Middle Ages came printing, and that meant, of course, the spread of knowledge.

There was a Syrian named Geber who lived about 850 A.D. He was the father of Arabic alchemy, that strange half-science that was the far-off ancestor of our modern chemistry.

There was also an unknown Hindu, whose date also is uncertain, who introduced the sign for zero. This made figuring much easier than it was before. Our "Arabic" numerals, as we call them, really came from the Hindus.

Avicenna the Persian (980-1037) is called "the most famous scientist of Islam." Avicenna wrote a textbook on medicine that continued to be the most important medical work, both in the East and in Europe, until the middle of the seventeenth century.

Another scientist that we shouldn't forget is Alhazan (965-1098). He was an Arabian. He is believed to have been the first to study lenses. He wrote a book called The Treasury of Optics, on light, color, reflections, and optical illusions.

Another scientist, Averroes (1126-1198) was an Araian philosopher and general scholar, born in Spain. He wrote many books in Arabic, including a commentary on Aristotle that was translated into Latin and widely read for three hundred years.

That brings us to the four men of the thirteenth century who, together, gave the study of science such a big push forward that it has never stopped.

The first of these, Alexander of Hales, was an Englishman. He taught at the great University of Paris and died in Paris in 1245. He encouraged the study of Aristotle. Among his pupils were a number of brilliant men.

The next in this group of four is Albertus Magnus (1193-1280), a German count who became a Dominican monk.

He was the foremost scholar of his day in physics and chemistry, and the most learned and most widely read of his time.

We must not forget Thomas Aquinas nor Robert Bacon either. Thomas Aquinas (1227-1274) was an Italian, related to several royal houses in Europe. He also became a Dominican monk. He studied at Naples, Cologne, Paris, and other universities. Many of his studies were in theology, and after his death he was canonized. He was keenly interested in science, however, and was probably the first to say that matter and energy are indestructible.

Some authorities believe that the first person to suggest the use of lenses for glasses was Roger Bacon (1214-1994), a Franciscan friar who foresaw several modern developments:

• Flying
• Mechanically propelled vehicles
• Sailing around the earth
• The use of explosives

He wrote a sort of encyclopedia. Bacon had an unfortunate habit of referring to fellow scholars in such terms as "absolute fool" or "full of perile (childish) vanity." Whether it was because of the enemies he made or on account of the views in his books, we do not know -- but he was imprisoned in his old age for fifteen years.

In the Middle Ages there sprang up great universities, such as those in Pisa, Bologna, Paris and Oxford. An intense love of learning was slowly growing. By the fifteen century this blossomed into one of the brightest periods mankind has ever known.

We call it the Renaissance, or Rebirth of Learning. Let us remember, however, that the Renaissance was no sudden thing, but a natural flowering from the seeds of science planted long before the Middle Ages.