Archimedes (287 BC-212 BC) was truly one of the greatest mathematical minds of all time. Archimedes' discoveries and inventions formed the basis of many of the fundamental concepts of modern physics and mathematics. Born in 287 BC Archimedes grew up in the thriving commercial center of the port city of Syracuse, Sicily. His father, Phidias, was an astronomer and mathematician and his family is thought to have lived an aristocratic life. Very little is known about his life, as reported by the Roman writer and historian Plutarch. He studied for a short time in Alexandria, Egypt. Alexandria was a great place of learning, and during this time Euclid studied there and undoubtedly influenced Archimedes' thinking. Upon completion of this study, Archimedes returned to Syracuse where he spent the rest of his life actively discovering and explaining important concepts. He is one of the few geniuses in history who enjoyed his fame during his lifetime. Both his colleagues, his king, and even his enemies respected him for his work. Most of Archimedes' writings were lost in the fire of the Library of Alexandria. What we know of Archimedes' treatises comes from three manuscripts. Two of them have been lost to history (one was last heard of in 1311, another in 1550) and the third is The Archimedes Palimpsest, now in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. (PW)The Archimedes Palimpsest is very important and contains many of Archimedes' ideas. During the Middle Ages the parchment on which his work was written was reused as a prayer book. To reuse his parchment, medieval monks palimpsested (Greek for “scraped off”) the text and then rewrote over the remains. It is currently being renovated at the Rochester Institute of Techn...... half of the document...... Wikipedia. Archimedes spiral. Last updated: March 19, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes_spiralWikipedia. Archimedes. Last updated April 1, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArchimedesArchimedes Spiral. Last updated July 20, 2003. http://www.2dcurves.com/spiral/spiralaa.html)NOVA. Infinite secrets. Created September 2003. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/archimedes/pi.htmlMath Refresher. Archimedes and the area of ​​the circle. Created May 2, 2006. http://mathrefresher.blogspot.com/2006/05/archimedes-and-area-of-circle.htmlBuzzle.com. Vishwas Purohit. Could Archimedes have lifted the Earth? Created 7/30/2004 http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/7-30-2004-57259.aspJ J O'Connor and EF Robertson. A history of calculus. February 1996. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/The_rise_of_calculus.html