Teach Astronomy - The End of Greek Science

http://www.teachastronomy.com/ With the decline of Greek civilization also came the decline of science. The next dominant civilization were the Romans, and the Romans were little interested in pure science, being more interested in practical matters such as agriculture and creating the bureaucracy of their huge empire. Several events from the fourth century AD symbolized the decline of science. One was the sacking of the great library at Alexandria and the horrible loss of knowledge represented by that event. The second was the death of Archimedes. Perhaps one of the most famous inventers and mathematicians, he has used the Greek cosmology to suppose a universe filled with ten to the power eighty particles as a demonstration to his king of his power in mathematics. Archimedes lived in Syracuse, and when that city fell under a Roman siege he used his ingenuity to create machines of war to keep the Romans at bay. When the Romans finally broke the siege and entered the city, he was cut down by a Centurion and killed, the last major mathematician or scientist of the golden era of Greek science.