Heron of Alexandria | |
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Ἥρων | |
![]() 17th-century German depiction of Heron | |
Citizenship | Alexandria, Roman Egypt |
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Hero of Alexandria (/ˈhɪəroʊ/; Greek: Ἥρων[a] ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Hērōn hò Alexandreús, also known as Heron of Alexandria /ˈhɛrən/; probably 1st or 2nd century AD) was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in Alexandria in Egypt during the Roman era. He has been described as the greatest experimentalist of antiquity and a representative of the Hellenistic scientific tradition.[1][2]
Hero published a well-recognized description of a steam-powered device called an aeolipile, also known as "Hero's engine". Among his most famous inventions was a windwheel, constituting the earliest instance of wind harnessing on land.[3][4] In his work Mechanics, he described pantographs.[5] Some of his ideas were derived from the works of Ctesibius.
In mathematics, he wrote a commentary on Euclid's Elements and a work on applied geometry known as the Metrica. He is mostly remembered for Heron's formula; a way to calculate the area of a triangle using only the lengths of its sides.[6]
Much of Hero's original writings and designs have been lost, but some of his works were preserved in manuscripts from the Byzantine Empire and, to a lesser extent, in Latin or Arabic translations.
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Hero of Alexandria lived c. AD 60, variously described as an Egyptian scientist and a Greek engineer, was the greatest experimentalist of antiquity.
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