The importance of a name can be profound. Why? What’s in a name? Many of you will recognize the famous line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare taught us that names can carry great meaning. And the name you elect to apply to your company can impact its success. A lot of consideration went in to choosing Archimedes as our namesake.
The Importance of a Name
Archimedes probably isn’t the first historical figure that comes to mind when you think of the great invention minds of the past. People like Thomas Edison, Nikolas Tesla, Benjamin Franklin have all acquired a state of infamy when it comes to the inventing world.
While Thomas Edison still holds the world record, singly or jointly for number of patents held, he wasn’t always on the up and up when it came to taking credit for inventions. His reputation is notoriously spotted with claims from others of stealing their ideas. His credit really goes to his ability to monetize an invention. He was the quintessential entrepreneur, but still a little shady. Tesla, while having a brilliant mind, was a terrible entrepreneur.
We really wanted whomever we elected to name the company after to be someone who offers inspiration!
Why Archimedes?
But why Archimedes? Well some have hailed him as the world’s greatest scientist. I think any title of the world’s greatest anything can always be argued. But no one can deny that his story of discovering the principle of buoyancy while in the bathtub and then running through the streets of Syracuse, naked, yelling “Eureka!” is unique.
You may not know this but Archimedes wasn’t just an inventor, he was a mathematician, a physicist, an engineer and an astronomer as well, and a multitude of his theories, concepts and inventions are still being utilized today.
Archimedes’ Untimely End
Sadly, Archimedes brilliance also ultimately led to his death during the siege of Syracuse. His knowledge of mechanics helped deter the Roman army from breaching the city walls during their siege for almost 2 years. The Roman soldiers were specifically ordered not to kill him upon finally gaining entry to the city. Their orders were to only capture him and return him to their commander, Marcellus.
Sadly, one soldier didn’t heed the orders and killed Archimedes’ in his home. The story claims he was working on a mathematical problem at the time and his famed last words were “do not disturb my circles”. So that was the untimely end of Archimedes, and one of the greatest minds in human history.
But because of his vast contributions to science, math, engineering, and inventing, he literally helped change the world. That’s what we are trying to do in a small way with AOS. So for us, he was the perfect choice as a namesake.
