Eureka !

TED Education Video




The word, Eureka, comes from Ancient Greek εὕρηκα heúrēka , which
means "I have found (it)".

Archimedes, an ancient Greek scholar, proclaimed "Eureka!" when he
stepped into a bath and noticed that the water level rose. He suddenly
understood that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the
volume of the part of his body he had submerged.

He was so eager to share his discovery that he leapt out of his bathtub
and ran through the streets naked.


劉炯朗, the former president of 國立清華大學 and a scientist-turned-
writer, once amazingly used the word “Eureka” when he translated an
ancient Chinese poem “青玉案” by 辛棄疾 into English:

眾裡尋他千百度，驀然回首，那人卻在，燈火闌珊處。

He wrote:

In a hundred ways, （用一百個方法）
I search for you – near and far, （遠遠近近來回找了幾次）
Turning to look behind me, （回頭一看）
Eureka！


Yeh Tze