Who they were
Archimedes was a Greek mathematician, physicist, and engineer of Syracuse in Sicily. He is counted among the greatest mathematicians of antiquity. He was killed when the Romans took the city in 212 BC.
What they did
He advanced geometry, approximating pi and establishing the relation of a sphere to its enclosing cylinder, and he founded hydrostatics with the principle of buoyancy. He also devised machines and war engines that helped defend Syracuse against Rome. The famous “Eureka” bath story is a later anecdote rather than established fact.
Legacy
His methods anticipated integral calculus by nearly two thousand years. His name survives in Archimedes’ principle and the Archimedes screw, and he remains a symbol of scientific genius.