Throughout history, scientists have contributed to the furthering of human knowledge and understanding of the universe. But one man is considered one of the most important of all time. Archimedes, born over two thousand years ago, in Sicily, which was, at that time, part of the Greek world, came up with many new ideas and inventions. But how did he do it? Many discoveries come about as a result of a scientist's dedication to a problem and long hours of research and experimentation.
Sometimes though, an idea comes quickly and without warning and may be inspired by something that seems completely unrelated. We call these moments 'Eureka moments'' and we have Archimedes to thank for this phrase. Archimedes was once asked by King Hiero II to find a way to check if a golden crown he'd been given was really pure gold. Archimedes found the answer to the problem while taking a bath. He realized that if the crown was put into water, its volume could be worked out by measuring the amount of water that was displaced and he would then be able to determine if the gold was pure or impure.
Archimedes was so excited about his discovery that he jumped out of the bath, forgetting to get dressed, and ran through the streets shouting Eureka, Greek for 'I have found it'. Since then, the word 'Eureka'' has been used whenever someone comes up with a great idea when they were least expecting it. Here's an example, in 1968 Dr Spencer Silver had invented a type of weak glue but was not able to convince other people that it would be useful in daily life. This all changed though in 1974.. One of Silver's co workers, Art Fry, was a singer in his church choir and was frustrated by the way his paper bookmarks kept falling out of his hymn book.
He realized that the glue would be perfect for sticking pieces of paper together. The glue was strong enough to hold the paper together, but weak enough that separating the pieces wouldn't cause any damage. In that 'Eureka moment'' the Post It Note was born. Blue jeans were created in a similar Eureka moment, as were band aids and microwave ovens. Sometimes the best ideas come when you least expect them, like a flash of lightning.
Archimedes may have been the first scientist to shout 'Eureka', but he certainly won't be the last.