Ancient Greeks Devised Machines First, Mathematical Theory Later

October 18, 2007

A researcher at Harvard University theorizes that ancient Greek craftsmen engineered sophisticated machines without necessarily understanding the mathematical theory behind their construction. It seems that even back then, necessity was the mother of invention.

"Craftsmen had their own kind of knowledge that didn't have to be based on theory," surmised Mark Schiefsky, Harvard classics professor. "They didn't all go to Plato's Academy to learn geometry, and yet they were able to construct precisely calibrated devices."

Working with researchers led by Jürgen Renn, director of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, in Berlin, Schiefsky has found that the steelyard — a balance with unequal arms — was in use in Greece as early as the fourth and fifth centuries B.C. — before Archimedes and other thinkers of the Hellenistic era gave a mathematical demonstration of its theoretical foundations.

"People assume that Archimedes was the first to use the steelyard because they suppose you can't create one without knowing the law of the lever," Schiefsky said. "In fact, you can — and people did. Craftsmen had their own set of rules for making the scale and calibrating the device."

With the rise of mathematical knowledge in the Hellenistic era, theory exerted a greater influence on the development of ancient technologies. The catapult provides evidence of the ways in which engineering became systematized.

With the help of literary sources and data from archaeological excavations, Schiefsky noted, "we can actually trace when the ancients started to use mathematical methods to construct the catapult."

"It's important to explore what the craftsmen did and didn't know," he concluded, "so that we can better understand how their work fits into the arc of scientific development."

Source: Harvard University, Oct. 1, 2007.