Heron/Hero of Alexandria 1st century AD, mathematician and is shown demonstrating his aeolipile to savants at the Museum of Alexandria. Th


Heron/Hero of Alexandria 1st century AD, mathematician and is shown demonstrating his aeolipile to savants at the Museum of Alexandria. This consisted of a hollow sphere mounted so that it could turn on a pair of hollow tubes connected to a cauldron or boiler. This closed boiler contained water heated by a fire below. Steam entered the sphere from the boiler through the tubes and escaped through two bent tubes projecting from the equator of the sphere, causing it to revolve. This is considered to be the first recorded steam turbine and is similar to a rocket style jet engine. Heron described the aeolipile in his Pneumatica. He wrote on mathematics, mechanics, physics and pneumatics. His work was destroyed by fire but survives through Arab translations.


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Photo credit: © SHEILA TERRY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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