Did archimedes really burn ships?

There is a famous story that Archimedes used a large mirror to focus the sun’s rays and start a fire that burned the ships of the Roman fleet that was attacking Syracuse. This story has been repeated for centuries and is still believed by many people. However, there is no evidence that this actually happened. The story first appears in a biography of Archimedes written by his friend Heraclius about 200 years after Archimedes’ death. Heraclius was not an eyewitness to the events he described, so we have to take his word for it that they actually happened. Other than Heraclius’ account, there is no evidence for the story of Archimedes burning the ships. There are no other contemporary accounts of the event, and no archaeological evidence has been found to support it. So why do people still believe the story? It’s probably because it’s a great story! It’s the kind of thing that we want to believe happened, because it’s so incredible. But even if the story is not true, it’s still a testament to Archimedes’ genius. He was a brilliant scientist and mathematician, and he is responsible for many important inventions and discoveries. He was also a great strategist, and he is known to have come up with several ingenious plans to defend Syracuse from the Romans. So even if he didn’t actually burn the ships, he was still a pretty amazing guy!