>>>>>>>>> You are completely insane. You insist that a nation's power
>>>>>>>>> infrastructure depend on something that you state won't work.
>>>>>>>> Not quite. I insist that a nation's power infrastructure depend on
>>>>>>>> something that will be extremely dangerous to develop.
>>>>>>Good question, actually. If you research the history of electricity,
>>>>>>or steam, or chemical energy, you will find that there were quite
>>>>>>extreme dangers involved in their development. One of the reasons
>>>>>>Hero of Alexander didn't further develop his steam engine was that he
>>>>>>was afraid of it. It achieved unheard of speeds and energy release in
>>>>>>his laboratory, and he was afraid of getting killed by it.
>>>>> There's a slight problem with that analysis. It's a total fantasy.
>>>>> Hero's steam engine did not and could generate "unheard of speeds and
>>>>> energy release". It was totally feeble. - Hide quoted text -
>>>>Depends on what account you read. Some say it was a small glass toy.
>>>>Some say it was a large bronze vessel filled with boiling water. The
>>>>latter design could certainly have gotten out of hand in terms of
>>>>speeds and energy generated.
>>> No, he could not have created the necessary airtight seal.
Not dishonest, you seem to have screwed it up
Ctesibius did, 250 years earlier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ctesibius
Ctesibius
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For the lunar crater, see Ctesibius (crater).
Ctesibius or Ktesibios or Tesibius (Greek Κτησίβιος) (fl. 285-222 BC)
was a Greek[1] or Egyptian[2] inventor and mathematician in
Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt. He wrote the first treatises on the
science of compressed air and its uses in pumps (and even a cannon).
This, in combination with his work on the elasticity of air On
pneumatics, earned him the title of "father of pneumatics." None of
his written work has survived, including his Memorabilia, a
compilation of his research that was cited by Athenaeus.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Inventions
* 2 Reputation
* 3 References
* 4 External links
[edit] Inventions
Ctesibius was probably the first head of the Museum of Alexandria.
Very little is known of his life but his inventions were well known.
It is said (possibly by Diogenes Laertius) that his first career was
as a barber. During his time as a barber, he invented a clever
counterweight-adjustable mirror. His other inventions include the
hydraulis, a water organ that is considered the precursor of the
modern pipe organ, and an improved water clock called a clepsydra. The
clepsydra kept more accurate time than any clock invented until the
Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens detailed the use of a pendulum to
regulate a clock in the 17th century. He described the one of the
first force pumps for producing a jet of water, or for lifting water
from wells, and examples have been found at various Roman sites, such
as at Silchester in Britain. The principle of the siphon has also been
attributed to him.
According to Diogenes Laertius, Ctesibius was miserably poor. Laertius
details this by recounting the following concerning the philosopher
Arcesilaus:
"when he had gone to visit Ctesibius who was ill, seeing him
in great distress from want, he secretly slipped his purse under his
pillow; and when Ctesibius found it, 'This,' said he, 'is the
amusement of Arcesilaus.'" [1]
[edit] Reputation
Ctesibius's work is chronicled by Vitruvius, Athenaeus, and Philo of
Byzantium who repeatedly mentions him, adding that the first
mechanicians such as Ctesibius had the advantage of being under kings
who loved fame and supported the arts. Proclus (the commentator on
Euclid) and Hero of Alexandria (the last of the engineers of
antiquity) also mention him.
[edit] References
1. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica "Greek physicist and inventor, the
first great figure of the ancient engineering tradition of Alexandria,
Egypt."
2. ^ George Sarton (1959). A History of Science: Hellenistic
Science and Culture in the Last Three Centuries, p.343-344. Harvard
University Press.
[edit] External links
* Ancient Greek Scientists: Ctesibius
[hide]
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Greek mathematics
Mathematicians
Anaxagoras · Anthemius · Archytas · Aristaeus the Elder · Aristarchus
· Apollonius · Archimedes · Autolycus · Bion · Boethius · Bryson ·
Callippus · Carpus · Chrysippus · Cleomedes · Conon · Ctesibius ·
Democritus · Dicaearchus · Diocles · Diophantus · Dinostratus ·
Dionysodorus · Domninus · Eratosthenes · Eudemus · Euclid · Eudoxus ·
Eutocius · Geminus · Heron · Hipparchus · Hippasus · Hippias ·
Hippocrates · Hypatia · Hypsicles · Marinus · Menaechmus · Menelaus ·
Nicomachus · Nicomedes · Nicoteles · Oenopides · Pappus · Perseus ·
Philolaus · Philon · Porphyry · Posidonius · Proclus · Ptolemy ·
Pythagoras · Serenus · Simplicius · Sosigenes · Sporus · Thales ·
Theaetetus · Theano · Theodorus · Theodosius · Theon of Alexandria ·
Theon of Smyrna · Thymaridas · Xenocrates · Zeno of Elea · Zeno of
Sidon · Zenodorus
Treatises
Almagest · Archimedes Palimpsest · Arithmetica · Conics · Elements ·
On the Sizes and Distances (Aristarchus) · On Sizes and Distances
(Hipparchus) · On the Moving Sphere
Centers
Academy of Athens · Library of Alexandria · Cyrene
Influences
Babylonian mathematics · Egyptian mathematics
Influenced
European mathematics · Islamic mathematics · Indian mathematics
Tables
Timetable of Greek mathematicians
