The story of the amazing discovery of the lost works of Archimedes.

Creations and texts by Archimedes, previously thought to be destroyed, have been found beneath the pages of a 13th-century monk's prayer book. These hidden texts, which are gradually being recovered and decoded by scientists, show that Archimedes' ideas (2200 years ago) were even more progressive than those of Isaac Newton in the 17th century. Archimedes discovered the value of Pi, developed the theory of specific gravity, and made strides towards the development of calculus. What we know about him comes from three manuscripts, two of which have vanished. The third, which is now at the Walters Art Museum, is a palimpsest – the text has been scraped away, the book has been disassembled, and the parchment material has been reused, in this case as a prayer book. William Noel, the project director, and Reviel Netz, a historian of ancient mathematical science, narrate the fascinating story of this prayer book's survival from 1229 to the present, examining the process of recovering the priceless text from underneath, as well as exploring why this text is so significant.

Pages: 320, Year of Publication: 0701, Dimensions: 12.8x12.8cm