The Great Archimedes - by Mario Geymonat (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

In this exclusive English edition of the elucidating and award-winning investigation of Archimedes' life, Mario Geymonat provides fresh insights into one of the greatest minds in the history of humankind. Archimedes (ca 287 BCE-ca 212 BCE) was a mathematician, physicist, scientist, and engineer. Born in Syracuse, Sicily, the Greek Archimedes was an inventor par excellence. He not only explored the displacement of water and sand, worked out the principle of levers, developed an approximation of pi, discovered ways to determine the areas and volumes of solids, and invented the monumental Archimedes' screw (a machine for raising water), Archimedes also developed machinery that his fellow Syracusans successfully employed to defend their native city against the Romans. The Great Archimedes is already a highly acclaimed telling of the life and mind of one of antiquity's most important and innovative thinkers, and, now in translation, it is sure to be cherished by experts and novices alike across the English-speaking world. This wonderfully illustrated and multifarious book is enriched by numerous quotations and testimonies from ancient sources.

Review Quotes

Boasting an extensive scientific background, especially as regards mathematics, Geymonat fluently translates both sources contemporary with Archimedes and the writings of this Syracusan mathematician, thus outlining for the readers, empathically involved in the narration, the image of a scientist with a free spirit and a sharp, open mind, whose thought, in the pages of this volume, is rendered with all its strength.

... a delightful and richly illustrated biography of the great mathematician Archimedes... This publication makes Geymonat's interesting work available to the international public, acknowledging his praiseworthy objective of offering an excellent example of high-level scientific popularization.

Italian scholar Geymonat provides an interesting, brief account of the life and importance of Archimedes in this translated work.... Geymonat includes some unexpected gems.... Fun read overall! Recommended. Academic, general, and professional audiences. All levels.

About the Author

Mario Geymonat, a world-class scholar of antiquity, has taught at the University of Ca'Foscari of Venice and at the universtities of Milan, Calabria, and Siena. In its original publication in Italian, The Great Archimedes was awarded the Corrado Alvaro award for Italian literary excellence.

R. Alden Smith is Professor of Classics and Associate Dean of the Honors College at Baylor University.