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There are very few accurate details recorded about the life of Archimedes, including his exact birth and death years.
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Despite this lack of information, he has long been regarded as one of ancient history's top mathematicians, as well as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time.
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Archimedes established a very accurate estimate of the value of pi, even at that early time frame.
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His system for expressing multiple-digit numbers was considered very impressive for his day.
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His contributions to physics include the core fundamentals of hydrostatics and statics; he is also credited with uncovering the principle behind the lever.
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Archimedes designed several innovative machines, including the siege engine; the screw pump is named after him. Modern era researchers have developed experiments that proved the capabilities of some of Archimedes' machines.
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Some of his machines were able to destroy enemy ships by lifting them from the water, and others provided defense by using complicated alignments of mirrors to set them on fire.
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Interestingly, his inventions made him quite well known in his day, but his mathematical genius wasn't fully understood until almost 800 years after his death.
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Only some of his writings survived all the way to the Middle Ages, which is fortunate since his mathematical principles helped shape the research and teachings of learned people during the Renaissance.
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Archimedes is quite the stuff of legend, as even school children learn the story of his important discovery involving the formula for density.
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According to the legend, Archimedes was given the task of determining if the king's crown was solid gold, or had silver mixed in; due to its irregular shape it was hard to tell, until Archimedes displaced water from his bathtub and realized he could determine the density of materials.
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The mathematician is actually credited with several other more important discoveries, including developing manual screw turn that served as a bilge pump for what was the largest ship ever built in its day.
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Archimedes also explained the principles behind the lever, although he is not credited with the actual invention of the lever.
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