The $2 Million Lost Book of Archimedes

A prayer book holding hidden text reveals long-buried secrets from the greatest mathematician of the ancient world.

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Special thank you to Steven Strogatz and Amir Alexander for lending their time and expertise! I highly recommend both of their books that cover ideas discussed here:

Infinite Powers by Steven Strogatz https://tinyurl.com/4bpnfnus

Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World by Amir Alexander https://tinyurl.com/yuu4urww

Also check out Amir Alexander's latest book: Liberty's Grid: A Founding Father, a Mathematical Dreamland, and the Shaping of America https://tinyurl.com/ysfy4afv

(these are NOT affiliate links. Support local bookstores!)
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Much of the story told here, as well as quite a bit of additional information not covered in this video, can be found in this excellent book:

The Archimedes Codex by William Noel and Reviel Netz https://tinyurl.com/3v3s7ubc

This is a touching and thoughtful remembrance and celebration of William Noel: https://boltonhillmd.org/bulletin/mourning-and-celebrating-will-noel/

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Credits:

Written and Produced by Ben Syversen
Illustrations: Kendall Eddy
Editing: Ben Syversen, Pranav Kumar
Animation: Ben Syversen, Alex Zepherin
Camera and sound for A-roll footage: Anthony Forma and Mike Karas
Thumbnail design: Mostafa Hasan and Ben Syversen

Music: Epidemic Sound

Also thank you to Gary Rubinstein and Viktor Blåsjö, who both offered helpful feedback while I was writing this script.
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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:35 - The Method (The Basics)
08:18 - Archimedes
10:33 - The Dark Ages
12:48 - Brilliant
14:02 - The Method (Parabola)
20:37 - The Scribe
21:31 - Renaissance
26:35 - Discovered
29:33 - Lost
31:51 - Found
35:46 - New Discoveries
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A few helpful Archimedes resources:

•William Noel's TED Talk about the Palimpsest: https://tinyurl.com/2rcnuhkd
•Archimedes at NYU Math: https://tinyurl.com/5ax5n9zj
•Gary Rubinstein's explanation of The Method for the parabola: https://tinyurl.com/yzbssjr3
•An excellent explanation of Archimedes' Method for the volume of a sphere: https://tinyurl.com/yz5mvu7w
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Full list of sources: https://tinyurl.com/5b2rsxzk

Pictures and video from http://archimedespalimpsest.org

The digital Palimpsest from http://archimedespalimpsest.net. Palimpsest images are in the Public Domain, courtesy of University of Pennsylvania Libraries and the owner of the Palimpsest

Other books shown on screen:

Torricelli - Opera Geometrica - Courtesy of The Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology - Creative Commons License CC by 4.0.

The Works of Archimedes (English translation from Heiberg’s German editions) - Edited by T.L. Heath, originally published 1897 by Cambridge University Press

Maps: Public domain, courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin. https://maps.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/history_europe.html

William Noel Google Talks Archive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe9uQVGkz9k

Images: public domain via Wikimedia and Metropolitan Museum of Art

Other images via Wikimedia Commons:
Image of the Death of Archimedes - via https://math.nyu.edu/Archimedes/Death/DeathIllus.html
Isidore of Meletus: © Hubertl / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
Hagia Sophia: via Wikimedia Commons
Conica of Apollonius of Perga fol. 162b and 164a.jpg - via Wikimedia Commons
Mar Saba (Photo by Jean & Nathalie, 2011).jpg - via Wikimedia Commons
Aerial view of Mar Saba 03.jpg - Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 4.0
National Library of Greece: © Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE) - via Wikimedia Commons
Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1994-036-09A / CC-BY-SA - via Wikimedia Commons
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1985-1216-509 / CC-BY-SA 3.0- via Wikimedia Commons
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-2008-0710-500 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 - via Wikimedia Commons
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-L05487 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 - via Wikimedia Commons
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-N0827-318 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 - via Wikimedia Commons
Şükrü Naili Paşa Atatürk ile birlikte.jpg - Ozdemirfth - CC-BY_SA 4.0 - via Wikimedia Commons

This video was sponsored by Brilliant

Corrections:
31:51 - Pronounced "Noll," like the first name