Why the 'arc'himedes?
The boat was named after the famous Greek mathematician, Archimedes of Syracuse. Not only was he arguably the world's first mechanical engineer, he was also a thought leader of history who was one of the first people in western civilization to combine intellectual pursuit with the artisan technology of his time. This combination of science and craft allowed him to develop many useful and ingenious devices, some of which are still in use today, including the block and tackle, the screw pump, and the odometer.
When the Romans attacked Syracuse by sea, he even built a contraption to focus the sun on their ships as they entered the harbor and actually destroyed several of them. Now I'm not much of a warfare buff, but you gotta be impressed with a dude that could come up with a beam weapon over 2400 years ago.
However, Archimedes is best known for developing the fundamental mathematics of mechanics on which much of modern technology is based and his famous quote:
"Give me a lever long enough, and a fulcrum on which to place it and I will move the world."
So, in addition to being a ship with a never ending gas tank that I built to go cruising with on the cheap, the Arc is meant to be a metaphor for the unrealized possibility of modern technology to provide an affordable, comfortable, and sustainable place for us to live without burning fossil fuels or producing deadly nuclear waste.
My dream is that the Arc might serve as a lever of action on a fulcrum of new ideas and technology to help move the world in a better direction.
When the Romans attacked Syracuse by sea, he even built a contraption to focus the sun on their ships as they entered the harbor and actually destroyed several of them. Now I'm not much of a warfare buff, but you gotta be impressed with a dude that could come up with a beam weapon over 2400 years ago.
However, Archimedes is best known for developing the fundamental mathematics of mechanics on which much of modern technology is based and his famous quote:
"Give me a lever long enough, and a fulcrum on which to place it and I will move the world."
So, in addition to being a ship with a never ending gas tank that I built to go cruising with on the cheap, the Arc is meant to be a metaphor for the unrealized possibility of modern technology to provide an affordable, comfortable, and sustainable place for us to live without burning fossil fuels or producing deadly nuclear waste.
My dream is that the Arc might serve as a lever of action on a fulcrum of new ideas and technology to help move the world in a better direction.