Born c.287 BC in Syracuse (in Sicily), Archimedes was an acclaimed inventor, scholar, and mathematician. One of the more interesting facts about his life relates in fact to his death in 212/11. During the Second Punic War (Rome vs. Carthage), the Roman general Marcellus attempted repeatedly to sack Syracuse, who was allied with Carthage. Archimedes' strange inventions kept the Romans at bay for a year until the city finally fell. In the chaos of pillaging and looting, he was slain. According to popular history, Archimedes was doing geometry calculations in the dust when the city fell, and was so obsessed with completing them that he refused to surrender to a Roman soldier until he was finished. In response, the soldier slew him... an act which Marcellus grieved over, as Archimedes would have been of much use to the Romans. His inventions included several war machines, most notably of which was some sort of "crane" that could latch onto ships and capsize them. He is also credited with inventing the Archimedean Screw (you don't say?), which is useful in irrigation.