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1 Hero of Alexandria
SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building, Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering, Photography, film and optics, Steam and internal combustion engines[br]fl. c.62 AD Alexandria[br]Alexandrian mathematician and mechanician.[br]Nothing is known of Hero, or Heron, apart from what can be gleaned from the books he wrote. Their scope and style suggest that he was a teacher at the museum or the university of Alexandria, writing textbooks for his students. The longest book, and the one with the greatest technological interest, is Pneumatics. Some of its material is derived from the works of the earlier writers Ctesibius of Alexandria and Philo of Byzantium, but many of the devices described were invented by Hero himself. The introduction recognizes that the air is a body and demonstrates the effects of air pressure, as when air must be allowed to escape from a closed vessel before water can enter. There follow clear descriptions of a variety of mechanical contrivances depending on the effects of either air pressure or heated gases. Most of the devices seem trivial, but such toys or gadgets were popular at the time and Hero is concerned to show how they work. Inventions with a more serious purpose are a fire pump and a water organ. One celebrated gadget is a sphere that is set spinning by jets of steam—an early illustration of the reaction principle on which modern jet propulsion depends.M echanics, known only in an Arabic version, is a textbook expounding the theory and practical skills required by the architect. It deals with a variety of questions of mechanics, such as the statics of a horizontal beam resting on vertical posts, the theory of the centre of gravity and equilibrium, largely derived from Archimedes, and the five ways of applying a relatively small force to exert a much larger one: the lever, winch, pulley, wedge and screw. Practical devices described include sledges for transporting heavy loads, cranes and a screw cutter.Hero's Dioptra describes instruments used in surveying, together with an odometer or device to indicate the distance travelled by a wheeled vehicle. Catoptrics, known only in Latin, deals with the principles of mirrors, plane and curved, enunciating that the angle of incidence is equal to that of reflection. Automata describes two forms of puppet theatre, operated by strings and drums driven by a falling lead weight attached to a rope wound round an axle. Hero's mathematical work lies in the tradition of practical mathematics stretching from the Babylonians through Islam to Renaissance Europe. It is seen most clearly in his Metrica, a treatise on mensuration.Of all his works, Pneumatics was the best known and most influential. It was one of the works of Greek science and technology assimilated by the Arabs, notably Banu Musa ibn Shakir, and was transmitted to medieval Western Europe.[br]BibliographyAll Hero's works have been printed with a German translation in Heronis Alexandrini opera quae supersunt omnia, 1899–1914, 5 vols, Leipzig. The book on pneumatics has been published as The Pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria, 1851, trans. and ed. Bennet Wood-croft, London (facs. repr. 1971, introd. Marie Boas Hall, London and New York).Further ReadingA.G.Drachmann, 1948, "Ktesibios, Philon and Heron: A Study in Ancient Pneumatics", Acta Hist. Sci. Nat. Med. 4, Copenhagen: Munksgaard.T.L.Heath, 1921, A History of Greek Mathematics, Oxford (still useful for his mathematical work).LRD -
2 Alexandria, Hero of
See: Hero of Alexandria -
3 Ctesibius (Ktesibios) of Alexandria
[br]fl. c.270 BC Alexandria[br]Alexandrian mechanician and inventor.[br]Ctesibius made a number of inventions of great importance, which he described in his book Pneumatics, now lost. The Roman engineer and architect Vitruvius quoted extracts from Ctesibius' work in his De Architectura and tells us that Ctesibius was the son of a barber and that he arranged an adjustable mirror controlled by a lead counterweight descending in a cylinder. He noticed that the weight compressed the air, which could be released with a loud noise. That led him to realize that the air was a body or substance: by means of a cylinder and plunger, he went on to invent an air pump with valves. This he connected to the keyboard and rows of pipes of an organ. He also invented a force pump for water.Ctesibius also improved the clepsydra or water clock, which measured time by the fall of water level in a vessel as the water escaped through a hole in the bottom. The rate of flow varied as the level dropped, so Ctesibius interposed a cistern with an overflow pipe, enabling the water level to be maintained; there was thus a constant flow into a cylinder and the passage of time was indicated by a float with a pointer. He fitted a rack to the float which turned a toothed wheel, to activate bells, singing birds or other "toys". This is probably the first known use of toothed gearing.Ctesibius is credited with some other inventions of a military nature, such as a catapult, but it was his pumps that established a tradition in antiquity for mechanical invention using the pressure of the air and other fluids, stretching through Philo of Byzantium (c.150 BC) and Hero of Alexandria (c.62 AD) and on through Islam into medieval Western Europe.[br]Further ReadingA.G.Drachmann, 1948, Ktesibios, Philon and Heron: A Study in Ancient Pneumatics, Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Acta Hist. Sci. Nat. Med. 4).LRDBiographical history of technology > Ctesibius (Ktesibios) of Alexandria
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4 Architecture and building
Biographical history of technology > Architecture and building
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5 Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Clement, JosephDu ShiDu YuGongshu PanLi BingMa JunMurdock, WilliamSomerset, EdwardBiographical history of technology > Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering
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6 Photography, film and optics
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Ding HuanGabor, DennisKlic, KarolLippershey, HansMarton, LadislausTournachon, Gaspard FélixBiographical history of technology > Photography, film and optics
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7 Steam and internal combustion engines
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Giffard, Baptiste Henry JacquesHamilton, Harold LeePorta, Giovanni Battista dellaBiographical history of technology > Steam and internal combustion engines
См. также в других словарях:
Hero of Alexandria — Heron Born c. 10 AD Residence … Wikipedia
Hero of Alexandria — (c. ad 62) Greek mathematician and inventor Hero produced several written works on geometry, giving formulae for the areas and volumes of polygons and conics. His formula for the area of a triangle was contained in Metrica(Measurement), a work… … Scientists
Hero of Alexandria — noun Greek mathematician and inventor who devised a way to determine the area of a triangle and who described various mechanical devices (first century) • Syn: ↑Hero, ↑Heron • Instance Hypernyms: ↑mathematician, ↑inventor, ↑discoverer, ↑artificer … Useful english dictionary
Hero the younger — is the name given without any sufficient reason to a Byzantine land surveyor who wrote (about A.D. 938) a treatise on land surveying modelled on the works of Hero of Alexandria, especially the Dioptra. Literature* Geodesie de Heron de Byzance ,… … Wikipedia
Alexandria — /al ig zan dree euh, zahn /, n. 1. Arabic, Al Iskandarîyah. a seaport in N Egypt, in the Nile delta: founded in 332 B.C. by Alexander the Great; ancient center of learning. 2,201,000. 2. a city in NE Virginia, S of the District of Columbia.… … Universalium
Hero — /hear oh/, n. 1. Class. Myth. a priestess of Aphrodite who drowned herself after her lover Leander drowned while swimming the Hellespont to visit her. 2. Also, Heron. (Hero of Alexandria) fl. 1st century A.D., Greek scientist. * * * I… … Universalium
Hero (disambiguation) — A hero is a person who performs extraordinary deeds for the benefit of others.Hero may also refer to:Heroic figures* Superhero, a hero with extraordinary powers * Hero (title), a title presented by governments to their citizens for great… … Wikipedia
hero — herolike, adj. /hear oh/, n., pl. heroes; for 5 also heros. 1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. 2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic… … Universalium
Hero's formula — /hear ohz/, Geom. the formula for the area of a triangle when the sides are given: for a triangle with sides a, b, and c, the area is equal to sqrt(s(s a)(s b)(s c)), where s is equal to one half the perimeter of the triangle. [named after HERO… … Universalium
Hero — He•ro [[t]ˈhɪər oʊ[/t]] n. 1) myt a legendary priestess of Aphrodite and the lover of Leander 2) big Also, Heron (Hero of Alexandria) fl. 1st century a.d. , Greek scientist … From formal English to slang
Hero's formula — /hear ohz/, Geom. the formula for the area of a triangle when the sides are given: for a triangle with sides a, b, and c, the area is equal to sqrt(s(s a)(s b)(s c)), where s is equal to one half the perimeter of the triangle. [named after HERO… … Useful english dictionary
