Who was Heron of Alexandria, when did he live, and what was the aeolipile?
The answer: • Heron was a Greek-Egyptian mathematician, engineer, and inventor who lived during the first century A.D. (From around 10 A.D. to around 75 A.D., probably.) The aeolipile was basically a steam engine, the first ever steam-based motor. It was basically a metal ball that could turn on a metal tube that ran through it. It had two bent pipes sticking out opposite sides. Steam came in through the tube in the middle and went out through the pipes on the sides. The steam pushing out through the holes in the sides made the ball spin. Unfortunately, no one ever really used this motor. Sources: Ancient Inventions, by James & Thorpe, 1994 http://van.hep.uiuc.edu/van/qa/section/everything_else/information/950749321.htm The correct responders were: Steven Halber, Steve Gibson, Bill Downs and Alan Anderton. There were two interesting side discussions related to this question: • James and Thorpe had an interesting discussion in their book. They ask, could Heron’s steam engine have been h
