ABSTRACT
In Plutarch’s Life of Marcellus it is recorded that when Archimedes made his proud boast about moving the earth, King Hiero, amazed by this claim, asked Archimedes for a practical demonstration. At the time there was a ship in the dock that could not be drawn out except with a great deal of labour by many men. The ship was fully laden with passengers and freight:[Archimedes] seated himself at a distance from her, and without any great effort, but quietly setting in motion with his hand a system of compound pulleys, drew her towards him smoothly and evenly, as though she were gliding through the water. Archimedes’ boastful claim about moving the earth is related to the principle of the lever which was discussed in the first book of his work On the Equilibrium of Planes.
