California State Motto

California State Seal 1849 - Image courtesy of the California State Parks

During the Gold Rush era, “Eureka!” was the cry heard throughout the gold fields of California as miners land claim to the riches of the Sierra Nevadas. The Gold Rush began when gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Sutter’s Mill on January 24, 1848. It was shortly after the rush began, in 1849, that the motto, “Eureka!” began to appear on the state seal.

The motto was used unofficially for over a century before being made the official motto of California in 1963. There was one attempt to make “In God We Trust” the official motto in 1957, but the bill failed.

California is the only state to have a motto that uses a Greek term. Eureka means, “I’ve found it!”

This illustration and text are from a magazine advertisement for NBC, probably dating from the 1940’s. It was found among the files of the Print and Picture Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The word “eureka!” is coming out of Archimedes’ mouth.

The Anecdote of Archimedes, the Golden Crown, and the Eureka Moment

According to Scientific America:

…the local tyrant contracts the ancient Greek polymath Archimedes to detect fraud in the manufacture of a golden crown. Said tyrant, name of Hiero, suspects his goldsmith of leaving out some measure of gold and replacing it with silver in a wreath dedicated to the gods. Archimedes accepts the challenge and, during a subsequent trip to the public baths, realizes that the more his body sinks into the water, the more water is displaced–making the displaced water an exact measure of his volume. Because gold weighs more than silver, he reasons that a crown mixed with silver would have to be bulkier to reach the same weight as one composed only of gold; therefore it would displace more water than its pure gold counterpart. Realizing he has hit upon a solution, the young Greek math whiz leaps out of the bath and rushes home naked crying “Eureka! Eureka!” Or, translated: “I’ve found it! I’ve found it!”

Read more about the tale in Fact or Fiction?: Archimedes Coined the Term “Eureka!” in the Bath

The only problem with the tale, is that the event was never written about by Archimedes, despite the fact that he avidly journaled his exploits and discoveries. However, it makes a great story, and it adds to the folklore behind the California state motto.

One of the earliest mentions of this story took place in
THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF PLEASURE ACCORDING TO EPICURUS
by Plutarch (AD 45-120)

According to the story, Archimedes, as he was washing, thought of a way to compute the proportion of gold in King Hieron’s crown by observing how much water flowed over the bathing-stool. He leapt up as one possessed, crying heureka! ( “I’ve found it”). After repeating this several times, he went his way.

Translation by William Baxter, 1859