Archimedes (ca 287–212 BC)                         In his work On the Sphere and Cylinder, Archimedes showed that the volume of a sphere is exactly two thirds the volume of the circumscribing cylinder, and that the surface area of a sphere is also two thirds the surface area of the circumscribing cylinder. He was so proud of this result that he asked that a figure showing a sphere with a circumscribed cylinder be engraved on his tombstone.

A Chinese disaster (213 BC) It was decreed in 213 BC by the Emperor Shi Huang-ti of China that all books of knowledge, including books on mathematics and related topics, should be burned. The Emperor further decreed that anyone caught disobeying the order would be branded and sentenced to four years of hard labour on the Great Wall. Some 460 scholars defied the Emperor, and as a penalty were buried alive.

Exercise Verify the two results of Archimedes relating sphere and cylinder.