Archimedes’ death ray tested at MIT
Several Ancient Greek and Roman sources (Polybius, Plutarch and Pliny the Elder) tell that during the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, Archimedes (mathematician and subject of Hiero II) constructed a burning glass to set fire to the Roman warships, anchored within arrow range. Though it’s often pictured as a large lens, the death ray was probably an assembly of mirrors, as recorded by Anthemius of Tralles (474-534), architect of the Hagia Sophia. Purportedly, Proclus used a similar method in 514 against the ships of Vitellius. The death ray is still considered by many as fiction, TV’s MythBusters were not able to recreate the feat. But after doing some calculations to see if it was possible, the MIT’s 2.0009ers decided to give it a try. Running into some difficulties at first, once the clouds cleared they succeeded in setting fire to 1" thick red oak using only mirrors.