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Archimedes' Secret - BBC Horizon - 1/3

Archimedes of Syracuse was an ancient Greek mathematician, physicist and engineer. Although little is known of his life, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. This is the story of a book that could have changed the history of the World. To the untrained eye, it is nothing more than a small and unassuming Byzantine prayer book, yet it sold at Christies for over $2m. For faintly visible beneath the prayers on its pages are other, unique, writings - words that have been lost for nearly two thousand years.

  • Jonas22
  • posted by Jonas22
  • Date 8/13/2007 12:29:14 AM
  • Views: 11174
  • All Ages
  • All Ages

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8 Comments

Current View: 15 / Show all Comments

qsceszwsxasd : LVL 32: VP 4.1: said:

qsceszwsxasd

5 votes NegativePositive

390 days 7 hours ago...

<3 your BBC uploads.

POOEYO : LVL 29: VP 3.8: said:

POOEYO

4 votes NegativePositive

390 days 2 hours ago...

Horizon is worth the license fee on its own!

klavlav : LVL 16: VP 2.5: said:

klavlav

4 votes NegativePositive

389 days 8 hours ago...

Spoooky! We were *just* talking about Archimedes around the dinner table tonight! In fact, I was even wondering if there was some documentary about him....Spooky!

N@stro : LVL 12: VP 2.1: said:

N@stro

3 votes NegativePositive

389 days 8 hours ago...

Been on the lookout for this ..saw the add and missed the show. Great upload 2X thumbs up

selfworm : LVL 41: VP 4.9: said:

selfworm

4 votes NegativePositive

389 days 8 hours ago...

More more, this is pure gold (with some silver).

Although they got it wrong when they said that Archimedes was the last great mathematician of the classical age. There was also Apollonius, possibly an even greater mathematician than Archimedes. And then after the classical age and near the end of ancient Hellenistic age of mathematics there was also Pappus.

MasterChief182 : LVL 18: VP 2.7: said:

MasterChief182

1 votes NegativePositive

389 days 7 hours ago...

Bad people kill good people.

rochepoint223 : LVL 32: VP 4.1: said:

rochepoint223

4 votes NegativePositive

389 days 6 hours ago...

And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost.

History became legend, legend became myth, and for one and a half thousand years, the Ring..erm Book passed out of all knowledge. Until, when chance came, it ensnared a new bearer.

klavlav : LVL 17: VP 2.6: said:

klavlav

4 votes NegativePositive

388 days 6 hours ago...

I especially like how they explicitly mention the Dark Ages as 'The Age of Faith'.

One can only imagine what would have happened if that work of Archimedes' had not been lost for centuries. How fitting, poetic and ironic that his work was almost lost forever in order to make a *prayer book*!

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