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Archimedes Death Ray

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the take-that-mythbusters dept.

Werner Heuser writes "Ancient Greek and Roman historians recorded that during the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, Archimedes (a notably smart person) constructed a burning glass to set the Roman warships, anchored within bow and arrow range, afire. The story has been much debated and oft dismissed as myth ... Intrigued by the idea and an intuitive belief that it could work, MIT's 2.009ers decided to apply the early product development 'sketch or soft modeling' process to the problem."

4 of 584 comments (clear)

  1. yep. by WML+MUNSON · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    i have nothing worthwhile to say.

  2. That's nothing! by JMZorko · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Why, in the Great Siege Of San Francisco, October 2005, I, a reasonable-intelligent-but-far-more-delusional person, defeated the vast mongrel hoardes anchored off of the coast of Pacifica, with nothing but a piece of string, a breath mint, and my unbending will.

    ... at least, that's how I remember it :-)

    Regards,

    John

    --
    Falling You - beautiful
  3. Re:MIT numbering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    This is a crock of shit.

    "America" would have been found NO MATTER WHAT, if not in 1492 than in 1502 or 1512. Contrary to popular belief, most people the 15th century did NOT believe the earth was flat. That is just another misconception taught in grade school, much like Columbus being a good guy. The delay would have been minimal -- exploration was expanding rapidly and the fact that Columbus discovered America was sheer dumb fucking luck. (and it was REALLY dumb -- he had no idea where he was going) Giving credit to one man, who was a complete asshole, is absurd. Columbus was a bungling navigator that no one wanted to support in the first place -- that's why it took him so long to find someone to fund his journey. That's why there was almost mutiny on his ship. The man was an idiot and a raping, maraudering piece of shit. We should NOT in any way, shape, or form celebrate Columbus.

    I don't know where you copied this article for your trolling, but, it's a ridiculous assertion. Columbus was a terrible, terrible human being. Sure, it could be argued that any "explorer" at that time would have done the same, because that's just the "way things were", but a) that's probably not true and b) WHO CARES? That doesn't make them any less inhumane pieces of shit undeserving of celebration.

    I repeat: This hemisphere would have been discovered by advanced civilization no matter what. To celebrate the one asshat who did it is retarded and overly patriotic. And what does patriotism lead to? Nothing good. Nothing at all.

  4. Re:And Leonardo, while we're mentioning dead geniu by thogard · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    IBM has a traveling museum exhibit of models of Leonardo daVinci's work. Its worth seeing if you get the chance.