Steam engine Heron's steam engine

Heron lived in Alexandria, Egypt, around the first century AD. He taught at the Museion of Alexandria, the scientific center of ancient Egypt, which included the famous library.

Heron's most famous work is "Metrica", which gives definitions of a spherical segment, a torus, as well as rules and formulas for the exact and approximate calculation of the areas of regular polygons, the volumes of truncated cones and pyramids. His "Mechanics" is also an outstanding scientific work.

Heron's "Pneumatics" can also be considered one of his most significant works. A significant part of it is a description of various siphons and vessels from which water flows by gravity through a tube. The book mentions about 80 devices and mechanisms operating using the principles of pneumatics and hydraulics, including the famous aeolipile and a water pump that was unique for its time. The originals of these works have not survived. Only rewritten copies of Heron's works made by his students and followers have survived to this day.