There has been some debate over how (or even whether) Archimedes set fire to a Roman fleet as it attacked Syracuse. Could bronze shields generate enough heat, and how would one aim them? Here are some stabs at the problem by various people:

• Correspondence from Applied Optics
  • Original article and accompanying illustration
  • Commentary
• Description of a reconstruction (from an old Reader's Digest book)
• Burning Mirrors on the Archimedes Home Page
• MIT reconstruction
• Ancient Sieges
• L'Assedio di Siracusa (1962) (aka "Siege of Syracuse", an Italian movie with little relation to history and lots of zapping things with solar reflectors)

A better page describing Syracuse, but can be very slow.

Henry Nebrensky