Archimedes

Physics Greek -287 – -212 374 quotes

Greatest mathematician-physicist of antiquity

Quotes by Archimedes

Give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth.

Pappus of Alexandria, Synagoge (Collection)

Eureka! (I have found it!)

Vitruvius, De Architectura

Do not disturb my circles!

Plutarch, Parallel Lives -212

Any solid lighter than a fluid will, if placed in the fluid, be so far immersed that the weight of the solid will be equal to the weight of the fluid displaced.

On Floating Bodies

The ratio of the surface area of a sphere to the surface area of its circumscribing cylinder is 2:3.

On the Sphere and Cylinder

The ratio of the volume of a sphere to the volume of its circumscribing cylinder is 2:3.

On the Sphere and Cylinder

The value of pi is between 3 10/71 and 3 1/7.

Measurement of a Circle

Any magnitude whatever being given, it is possible to find a finite multiple of that magnitude which will exceed any other given magnitude.

The Sand Reckoner

There are no bounds to the number of grains of sand.

The Sand Reckoner

The center of gravity of any triangle is the point in which the medians intersect.

On the Equilibrium of Planes

Equal weights at equal distances are in equilibrium, and equal weights at unequal distances are not in equilibrium but incline towards the weight which is at the greater distance.

On the Equilibrium of Planes

Magnitudes are said to be in equilibrium when the sum of their moments about the fulcrum is zero.

On the Equilibrium of Planes

The area of a segment of a parabola is 4/3 the area of the triangle with the same base and height.

The Quadrature of the Parabola

The surface of any sphere is equal to four times the greatest circle in it.

On the Sphere and Cylinder

The volume of any sphere is equal to four times the cone which has its base equal to the greatest circle in the sphere and its height equal to the radius of the sphere.

On the Sphere and Cylinder

If a solid be heavier than a fluid, the solid will, if placed in the fluid, descend to the bottom of the fluid, and the solid will, when weighed in the fluid, be lighter than its true weight by the weight of the fluid displaced.

On Floating Bodies

I believe that the number of grains of sand is greater than the number of stars in the universe.

The Sand Reckoner

The area of a circle is equal to the area of a right-angled triangle whose legs are the radius and the circumference of the circle.

Measurement of a Circle

The spiral of Archimedes is a curve such that the distance from the origin to any point on the curve is proportional to the angle through which the radius vector to that point has rotated.

On Spirals

The method of exhaustion is a method of finding the area of a shape by inscribing within it a sequence of polygons whose areas converge to the area of the shape.

Various works