History
The invention of the water screw is credited to the Greek polymath Archimedes of Syracuse in the 3rd century BC. Its tentative attribution to the 6th century BC Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II by the assyriologist Dalley or to pre-Hellenistic Egypt has been refuted on the grounds of "the total lack of any literary and archaeological evidence for the existence of the water-screw before ca. 250 BC". The German engineer Konrad Kyeser, in his Bellifortis (1405), equips the Archimedes screw with a crank mechanism. This mechanism soon replaced the ancient practice of working the pipe by treading.
Read more about this topic: Archimedes' Screw
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of the world is the record of the weakness, frailty and death of public opinion.”
—Samuel Butler (18351902)
“A man will not need to study history to find out what is best for his own culture.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“To summarize the contentions of this paper then. Firstly, the phrase the meaning of a word is a spurious phrase. Secondly and consequently, a re-examination is needed of phrases like the two which I discuss, being a part of the meaning of and having the same meaning. On these matters, dogmatists require prodding: although history indeed suggests that it may sometimes be better to let sleeping dogmatists lie.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)