I wonder why it is called the Archimedean spiral even though it was first studied by Conon of Samos.
Is it because Archimedes produced much more meaningful results than Conon?
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2$\begingroup$ Nothing can be said with certainty about very old ideas. Who claims that Conon of Samos discovered it? Wolfram's page says so without any evidence. Recall the so-called Stigler's Law of Eponymy? It states "states that no scientific discovery is ever named after its original discoverer..." $\endgroup$– ACRCommented Sep 16 at 3:30
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3$\begingroup$ "Archimedes described such a spiral in his book On Spirals. Conon of Samos was a friend of his and Pappus states that this spiral was discovered by Conon." Archimedes' treatise On Spirals: survived. $\endgroup$– Mauro ALLEGRANZACommented Sep 16 at 7:16
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$\begingroup$ mathoverflow.net/questions/285627/… $\endgroup$– Alexandre EremenkoCommented Sep 16 at 12:18
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