A Babylonian tablet from around 1770 BC uses principles of the Pythagorean theorem, suggesting ancient Babylonians discovered it centuries before the famous Greek mathematician Pythagoras for whom it's named.
A Babylonian tablet from around 1770 BC uses principles of the Pythagorean theorem, suggesting ancient Babylonians discovered it centuries before the famous Greek mathematician Pythagoras for whom it's named.
Anything not preserved on stone or metal will be lost eventually.
Well, copying extends important things a bit; I don't think there's any original Aristotle copies. It's really easy now, so last time someone asked about future preservation on AskHistorians the experts were pretty positive on the outlook.
You can buy stone-like optical disks that should last forever once burned, if you want to make a time capsule.