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Eureka

What is real eureka? A groundbreaking discovery? Maybe.


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Neti Joshi

2 years ago | 2 min read

One fine day, Archimedes, the famous Greek mathematician, physicist, andastronomer, who lived in Syracuse, was given a task by the king of theland. The king wanted to wear a gold crown. He gave gold to the goldsmith to makethe crown. When the goldsmith returned with the finished crown, the king weighedit, and the weight came out to be the same as that of the gold the king gave.This made the king suspicious; he gave Archimedes a task to determine the amountof gold used. Thinking about the problem, Archimedes stepped into his bathtub withoutnoticing that the water was filled to the brim. As soon as he stepped in, theexcess water flowed out, and he came up with one remarkable discovery: Archimedes’principle. He was so thrilled and excited that he jumped out of his bathtub andran onto the streets to tell the king, “Eureka! Eureka!” since then, the wordeureka has been associated with the emotion of joy and satisfaction when onediscovers something. Or, should I say something remarkable, something that theperson has been looking for desperately? Let’s look at a few examples of how weperceive the meaning of the word Eureka.

An applefell from the tree and hit Newton’s head. Eureka! He discovered gravity. AlbertEinstein had his eureka moment when he found the general theory of relativity.One of the most outstanding electrical engineers of all time, Nicola Tesla, isknown for his AC generation system. Dmitri Mendeleev couldn’t figure outhow to arrange basic elements of the universe until one night; he had a dreamin which elements of the universe flowed together like music. And he discoveredthe Periodic table. Not only these scientists, but each one of us also mighthave experienced such joy and satisfaction when we were struck by a maybe brilliantbusiness idea or solution to a problem.

Butwhy are we only happy and satisfied when we have these big eureka moments? Lookaround yourself. Ever wondered how perfectly everything is arranged in thisuniverse? Or the birds can fly! I’m sitting on the 3rd floor of a building, 50 feetabove ground level. Most importantly, you’re living, breathing, eating,running, thinking, smiling, and so much more. Ever had a realization that howlucky you are to be born in this world and able to experience everything? We’rerunning to catch up with this fast-moving world that we don’t realize that thejoy and satisfaction we’re looking for in those theories of relativity anddiscoveries of gravity is not that far off reach. Stop for a moment, breathe,and look around. You have family, friends, food to eat, and a roof over yourhead. This is the absolute joy, the real satisfaction. This is Eureka!

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