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enjoy the program.

Hello today it's Archimedes the Greek mathematician reputed to have shouted Eureka as he leapt from his bath having discovered the principles of floating bodies.

Whatever the truth of the myths surrounding the man, he was certainly one of the world's greatest mathematicians.

The practical application of his work in pulleys and levers created

formidable weapons such as catapults and ship-tilting systems, allowing his home city in Sicily

to defend itself against the Romans. Give me a place to stand and I will move the earth, he declared.

But despite these triumphs, his true love remained for maths, for maths sake.

Plutarch wrote, he placed his whole affection and ambition in those purer speculations where there can be no reference to the vulgar needs of life.

His most important breakthrough came in the field of geometry with his work on the areas and volumes of curved objects.

So how did this Greek mathematician in the third century BC arrive at a calculation of

pie?

Did he really create a death ray to fight off invading ships and what does a recently discovered

manuscript reveal about his methods.

Joining me to discuss Archimedes is Jackie Stedoldall, Junior Research Fellow in the History

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