Long-lost page of Archimedes\u2019 writings rediscovered in France<\/p>\n
The discovery adds to the Archimedes Palimpsest, an important medieval manuscript containing texts from the Greek mathematician Archimedes<\/p>\n
By Jackie Flynn Mogensen<\/a> edited by Claire Cameron<\/a><\/p>\n An engraving of the death of Archimedes.<\/p>\n The Archimedes Palimpsest is one of the treasures of antiquity. This medieval manuscript, dating the to the 10th century, includes copies of the writings of Archimedes of Syracuse<\/a>, a Greek mathematician and scientist who laid the foundations of modern calculus, geometry and fundamental physics. And now scientists have recovered one of the lost pages of the palimpsest, shedding more light on the great scientist\u2019s mathematical thinking.<\/p>\n The page has been missing for years: we know that in 1906 a historian photographed much of the manuscript\u2014but sometime later, some of the pages mysteriously went missing.<\/p>\n Researchers discovered the missing sheet, page 123, in the Museum of Fine Arts in Blois, according to<\/a> the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). One side of the page includes a writing from Archimedes\u2019 treatise On the Sphere and the Cylinder, much of which is legible, according to the CNRS.<\/p>\n On supporting science journalism<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n \u00a9 Blois, Mus\u00e9e des Beaux-Arts, Inv. 73.7.52. Photography IRHT-CNRS<\/p>\n The text on the other side of the page is less certain: whatever was written there is covered up by a gilded illustration of the Biblical prophet Daniel. Researchers hope to use x-rays and other advanced imaging methods to uncover the text under the drawing.<\/p>\n \u00a9 Blois, Mus\u00e9e des Beaux-Arts, Inv. 73.7.52. Photography IRHT-CNRS<\/p>\n Archimedes lived around 250 B.C.E. in Syracuse in ancient Greece and was among the world\u2019s greatest thinkers<\/a>, responsible for theories, experiments and inventions about math, physics and engineering that still intrigue scientists today<\/a>. (Legend has it<\/a> that Archimedes died doing math\u2014at the hands of a Roman soldier while making a calculation in the sand\u2014though this has never been confirmed.)<\/p>\n The rest of the Archimedes Palimpsest is currently on display at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Md., although it\u2019s unclear if the missing page will be added to the collection.<\/p>\n It\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. 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I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 9, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Long-lost page of Archimedes\u2019 writings rediscovered in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-815080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116201018422673674","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Engraving](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Death-of-archimedes.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/palimpseste_light_small_1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Illustration](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Archimedes-Palimpsest-2.jpg\")
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