Archimedes was a person.
Archimedes . Although few details of his life are known , he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity . He was also one of the first to apply mathematics to physical phenomena , founding hydrostatics and statics , including an explanation of the principle of the lever . The relatively few copies of Archimedes ' written work that survived through the Middle Ages were an influential source of ideas for scientists during the Renaissance , while the discovery in 1906 of previously unknown works by Archimedes in the Archimedes Palimpsest has provided new insights into how he obtained mathematical results .