This is how Archimedes' Principle explains buoyancy: Archimedes, a Greek philosopher (circa 287 BC - 212 BC), noticed that the level of water in a tub rose when he sat in it. (The Eureka story ... see image to left.) From this observation and other experiments, he found that an object immersed in a fluid is buoyed up (lifted) by a force equal to the weight of the fluid it displaces.