Reviel Netz, Department of Classics, Stanford University
Archimedes: the madness of the Method
The most remarkable work of Archimedes, The Method, is distinguished for how difficult it is to read for us today: it only survives in a single Palimpsest copy. As this copy is being more fully read, we understand just how difficult it was meant to be. The lecture explains how mad The Method is - and suggests also why Archimedes might have liked it to be that way.