Infinite Secrets
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/archimedes/
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- Learn more about ancient history, Archimedes, Dead Sea Scrolls, geometry, mathematicians, mathematics, palimpsest, and pi.
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Twenty-two centuries after Archimedes wrote his most revealing mathematical work, and eight centuries after a Christian monk erased what may have been the last surviving copy, the lost treatise has turned up and is being deciphered in a Baltimore museum. “Infinite Secrets” reports the story of the manuscript’s amazing discovery and how modern technology is being used to read its startling contents.
This website is a companion to the PBS Nova television program of the same name. An interactive on the website shows how modern technology has unlocked the secrets of Archimedes manuscript, the Palimpsest. Another shows how Archimedes estimated pi.
The Interview and Articles section contemplates philosophical infinity and discusses the mathematical perspective of infinity. Another article discusses other great surviving manuscripts from Papyrus to the Gutenberg Bible.
In addition, a Teacher’s Guide provides activities. A Library Resource Kit includes handouts, a lesson, display sheets, and more.
