Editing Lever (section)

== Lever history ==
Autumn Stanley argues that the [[digging stick]] can be considered the first lever, which would position prehistoric women as the inventors of lever technology.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stanley |first=Autumn |title=Machina Ex Dea: Feminist Perspectives on Technology |publisher=Pergamon Press |year=1983 |editor-last=Rothschild |editor-first=Joan |chapter="Women Hold Up Two-Thirds of the Sky: Notes for a Revised History of Technology."}}</ref> The next earliest known cultural evidence of the application of the lever mechanism dates back to the ancient [[Egypt]] {{circa|5000 BC}}, when it was used in a simple [[balance scale]].<ref name="Paipetis">{{cite book |last1=Paipetis |first1=S. A. |last2=Ceccarelli |first2=Marco |title=The Genius of Archimedes -- 23 Centuries of Influence on Mathematics, Science and Engineering: Proceedings of an International Conference held at Syracuse, Italy, June 8-10, 2010 |date=2010 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9789048190911 |page=416}}</ref> In [[ancient Egypt]] {{circa|4400 BC}}, a foot pedal was used for the earliest horizontal frame [[loom]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bruno |first1=Leonard C. |last2=Olendorf |first2=Donna |title=Science and technology firsts |date=1997 |publisher=[[Gale Research]] |isbn=9780787602567 |page=[https://archive.org/details/sciencetechnolog0000brun/page/2 2] |url=https://archive.org/details/sciencetechnolog0000brun |url-access=registration |quote=4400 B.C. Earliest evidence of the use of a horizontal loom is its depiction on a pottery dish found in Egypt and dated to this time. These first true frame looms are equipped with foot pedals to lift the warp threads, leaving the weaver's hands free to pass and beat the weft thread.}}</ref> In [[Mesopotamia]] (modern Iraq) {{circa|3000 BC}}, the [[shadouf]], a crane-like device that uses a lever mechanism, was invented.<ref name="Paipetis"/> In [[Ancient Egyptian technology|ancient Egypt]], workmen used the lever to move and uplift obelisks weighing more than 100 tons. This is evident from the recesses in the large blocks and the [[Lifting boss|handling bosses]] that could not be used for any purpose other than for levers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clarke |first1=Somers |last2=Engelbach |first2=Reginald |title=Ancient Egyptian Construction and Architecture |date=1990 |publisher=[[Courier Corporation]] |isbn=9780486264851 |pages=86–90}}</ref> 

The earliest remaining writings regarding levers date from the third century BC and were provided, by common belief, by the Greek mathematician [[Archimedes]], who famously stated "Give me a lever (long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it), and I shall move the world". (The Greek usually attributed to Archimedes does not include details about length of lever or fulcrum, i.e., δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω .) That statement has given rise to the phrase "an Archimedean lever" being adopted for use in many instances, not just regarding mechanics, including abstract concepts about the successful effect of a human behavior or action intended to achieve results that could not have occurred without it.<ref>Alsop, Jon, ''[https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/trump_musk_salute_gesture_attention.php Trump, Musk, and the Limits of Attention]'', [[Columbia Journalism Review]], January 23, 2025</ref>