Archimedes, the Art of Measurement

Archimedes, the Art of Measurement

von Marco Andreatta

Measuring space is crucial to our process of knowledge. Archimedes is a pioneer of geometry, in its most literal sense as the „measurement of the earth.“ He was the first to measure curved bodies in space and to calculate the surface area and the volume of the sphere. His method was brilliant, and it influenced all the great protagonists of modern science. From Galileo, who would revisit his proofs with a new sensitivity; to Gauss, who extended his calculations with astonishing consequences; to Einstein, who discovered one of the most famous equations in the history of Science, the Field Equation. An expression that can be thought of as the contemporary version of Archimedes‘ formula. The book is addressed to anyone interested in exploring reality with the help of a measure.

Measuring space is crucial to our process of knowledge. Archimedes is a pioneer of geometry, in its most literal sense as the „measurement of the earth.“ He was the first to measure curved bodies in space and to calculate the surface area and the volume of the sphere. His method was brilliant, and it influenced all the great protagonists of modern science. From Galileo, who would revisit his proofs with a new sensitivity; to Gauss, who extended his calculations with astonishing consequences; to Einstein, who discovered one of the most famous equations in the history of Science, the Field Equation. An expression that can be thought of as the contemporary version of Archimedes‘ formula. The book is addressed to anyone interested in exploring reality with the help of a measure.

Highlights

• Archimedes, a genius between myth and reality The measurement of things, an art practiced by Geometry From Archimedes to Einstein, how to enclose the description of the world in a formula

Über den Autor

Professor of Geometry at the University of Trento, he is a scholar in the field of Projective Algebraic Geometry. Currently Director of the International Center for Mathematical Research (CIRM) in Trento. He has been a visiting professor at many international research centers, including the Max Planck Institute (Bonn, DE), the Newton Institute for Math. (Cambridge, UK), and the Math.Sc. Research Institute (Berkley, US). He is the President of the Italian Mathematical Society (UMI). Since several years, he is working in the field of scientific popularization, writing historical and popular books (among these, the present one, “Archimedes, the Art of Measurement” and “The Shape of Everything, the Alphabet of Geometry” – Springer???). He was President of MUSE, the science museum designed by Renzo Piano, during its creation and for eight years. He is member of the Academy of Science in Torino, of Agiati in Rovereto and of Pericolanti in Messina.