Why Eureka?
Text by Milutin Stanisavljevic Miles
What does Eureka mean?
Eureka means “I found it” and over the centuries it has come to symbolize the exhilaration of discovery. Discovering something previously unknown, also in the context of solving a puzzle that occupies our minds, can be understood as having a “Eureka-moment”. Eureka is connected to Archimedes and it has been said, that he yelled it upon solving the puzzle of the crown of suspicion.
Who was Archimedes?
Archimedes was an ancient Greek mathematician, engineer and inventor who lived in Syracuse from 287 BC to 212 BC. He made various deep mathematical and engineering discoveries and based on these various achievements, such as calculating the area of a circle, the volume of a sphere, getting water to flow upwards through his spiral, building the largest ship of the time “the Syracusia” and making sure it floats on water and much, much more…
The crown of suspicion
Archimedes was called upon by King Hiero of Syracuse to solve a puzzle of trust and betrayal. The king, suspicious that his golden crown might have been adulterated with cheaper metals by the jeweler during production, sought a way to uncover the truth without destroying the beautiful object. It was a seemingly impossible task— how does one discern what materials the crown is made from, without altering its form?
Archimedes wrestled with the problem. Days turned into nights, frustration mounting. Then, one day, as he lowered himself into a bath, he observed the water rising around him. And there it was - the spark. He realized that any object submerged in water displaces an amount of water equal to its own volume, because of the upward force of water, which Archimedes discovered. And he remembered that different metals have different densities and hence that the same weight of two different metals can have a different volume. The solution to the king’s puzzle now lay clear before him: if he measured the water displaced by the crown and compared it to the water displaced by an equal weight of pure gold, any discrepancy would reveal whether the crown was adulterated. Overcome with this revelation, Archimedes is said to have leaped from the bath, crying "Eureka! Eureka!" (I have found it!), running thereby naked through the streets. It was a moment of pure intellectual triumph. Archimedes’ theory was put to the test, and it turned out that the jeweler kept some gold for himself. Believing he could cheat the king; the jeweler received a death sentence.
The upward force of water & the Syracusia
King Hiero envisioned the largest vessel the ancient world had ever seen—the Syracusia. It was to be a floating palace and a demonstration of the power of Syracuse, carrying not only passengers and cargo but the king’s legacy of grandeur. Yet such a ship, massive beyond precedent, faced a fundamental question: could it float, or would it sink under its own weight? Archimedes knew that no object ever really "sinks" or "floats" on its own, but that the water has an upward force of its own. This means that water either moves around an object, escaping its weight and letting it sink, or simply stays under the weight of an object, whereby its upward force enables the object to float on its surface. He knew everything can float, if the upward force of water is utilized correctly. By applying his insight, Archimedes calculated the ship’s dimensions, balanced its ballast, and designed systems to stabilize it. Through careful calculation and engineering ensured the ship’s buoyancy and the “Syracusia” did float, becoming a marvel of its time.
Our Eureka logo – a buoy
I chose a buoy as the conference logo because I see Archimedes' discovery of the buoyancy of water as the essence of his Eureka moment. His later deductions, i.e. his use of this discovery to find out whether the crown was made of pure gold or to float the Syracuse or to create his spiral, are all of secondary importance. Archimedes gained a fundamental insight into the structure of nature with the discovery of the buoyancy of water. This constitutes a Eureka moment for me, hence the naming of my conference in which we together want to look into new Eureka moments, that are occuring around the world.
The special buoy, which looks like a lighthouse with a cross in the middle, is intended to be a symbol of the fact that a discovery can only act as a lighthouse when our pursuit of truth is balanced with decency and humility. Please think for a moment: the discovery of the buoyancy of water made the greatest ship of antiquity "the Syracuse" float, but this discovery could just as easily have sunk it. And Archimedes used his discovery for other purposes too, including to create destructive war machines that protected Syracuse on the one hand, but also caused a lot of suffering and death on the other. Archimedes himself was murdered during an enemy attack on his city. He died by the hand of a soldier who did not recognize him as the genius of Syracuse, who was to be captured alive.
With every new discovery we make about our world, the question is how this new knowledge could be used and how it could be abused? When we shout "Eureka" (I found it), we should control our enthusiasm and also ask: "What could others do with it?" and "What safety precautions could and should be taken?"
The search for truth without decency and modesty leads not only to the failure of the seeker, but also of many other people.