He designed cranes to drop lead weights on nearby enemy ships and demonstrated that a helical blade could move water, thus inventing the propeller about 2,000 years before anyone found a way to use it for ship propulsion.
He designed cranes to drop lead weights on nearby enemy ships and demonstrated that a helical blade could move water, thus inventing the propeller about 2,000 years before anyone found a way to use it for ship propulsion. He may have invented the dry dock, designed a corkscrew-style water pump, improved the pulley, and made the most accurate ancient calculation of pi. For 10 points, name this Syracusean mathematician and physicist, who is also credited with the discovery of the principle of buoyancy.
He designed cranes to drop lead weights on nearby enemy ships and demonstrated that a helical blade could move water, thus inventing the propeller about 2,000 years before anyone found a way to use it for ship propulsion.
{Archimedes} of Syracuse