Tribute to Archimedes

Near  the San Mateo Bridge looking north toward San Francisco you can look out across some salt flats with tidal waters and if you look closely, you will see a few small structures that resemble miniature windmills lying on a diagonal. They are models of working water screws designed by the mathematician Archimedes (b. 287 B.C.) to move water from a low-lying body of water to another area. According to Wikipedia an Archimedes Screw was used to stabilize the Leaning Tower of Pisa in 2001. Amazingly, there are quite a few examples of Archimedes contributions to our way of life in the 21st century. This landscape is about the salt flats, the tidal waters and this ancient tool. The "eureka" story and history of the Archimedes Palimpsest (one of Archimedes rare books that went missing and has been re-discovered is fascinating) can be found at http://archimedespalimpsest.org