# Hero of Alexandria

> He built a steam engine eighteen centuries before the Industrial Revolution — not to power anything, just to watch it spin. Hero of Alexandria turned physics into theatre, inventing automatic doors for temples and coin-operated holy water dispensers while the Roman Empire looked on.

*Ancient Greek mathematician and engineer*

**Canonical URL:** https://fame.am/person/hero-of-alexandria

## Identity
- **Profile type:** Academic ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631))
- **Category:** Academics
- **Country:** Egypt
- **Born:** 10
- **Died:** 75
- **Status:** deceased
- **Gender:** male

## Bio

A Greek mathematician and engineer working in Roman-era Alexandria, probably in the first or second century AD, Hero became what later scholars called the greatest experimentalist of antiquity. He published descriptions of devices that wouldn't resurface for over a millennium: the aeolipile, a steam-powered sphere that spun on its own exhaust, and a windwheel that marked the first known use of wind power on land. In his Mechanics, he laid out designs for pantographs, drawing on ideas from the earlier inventor Ctesibius. His mathematical work included a commentary on Euclid's Elements and the Metrica, a treatise on applied geometry, but he's best remembered for the formula that calculates a triangle's area from its three side lengths alone. Most of what he built and wrote has vanished; what survives comes through Byzantine manuscripts and scattered Latin and Arabic translations.

## Fame
- **Popularity score:** 61.4 / 100
- **Momentum:** 2.1 / 100  (trend: FALLING)
- **Historical depth:** 24.6 / 100
- **Now attention:** 8.8 / 100
- **Source confidence:** 60.0 / 100
- **Profile completeness:** 70.0 / 100
- **Country rank:** #166

## Topics
#Scientists, #Academic, #Mathematics, #Physics, #Ancient History

## Sources
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q161853)
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_Alexandria)
- [Pantheon 2.0](https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Hero%20of%20Alexandria)
- [هيرون السكندرى](https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%83%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1%D9%89)
- [Herón d'Alexandría](https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her%C3%B3n_d'Alexandr%C3%ADa)
- [هرون اسکندرانی](https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86_%D8%A7%D8%B3%DA%A9%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C)
- [Heron](https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron)
- [Герон Александрыйскі](https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D1%8B%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%96)
- [Херон](https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A5%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD)
- [Heró d'Alexandria](https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her%C3%B3_d'Alexandria)
- [Hérón Alexandrijský](https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9r%C3%B3n_Alexandrijsk%C3%BD)
- [Heron](https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron)
- [Heron von Alexandria](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron_von_Alexandria)
- [Ήρων](https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%89%CF%81%CF%89%CE%BD)
- [Herono de Aleksandrio](https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herono_de_Aleksandrio)
- [Herón de Alejandría](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her%C3%B3n_de_Alejandr%C3%ADa)
- [Heron](https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron)
- [Heron Alexandriakoa](https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron_Alexandriakoa)
- [هرون اسکندرانی](https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86_%D8%A7%D8%B3%DA%A9%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C)
- [Heron Aleksandrialainen](https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron_Aleksandrialainen)
- [Héron d'Alexandrie](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9ron_d'Alexandrie)
- [Hearó Chathair Alastair](https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hear%C3%B3_Chathair_Alastair)
- [Herón de Alexandría](https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her%C3%B3n_de_Alexandr%C3%ADa)
- [הרון מאלכסנדריה](https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9F_%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%A1%D7%A0%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%94)
- [Heron](https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron)
- [Wikiquote](https://el.wikiquote.org/wiki/%CE%89%CF%81%CF%89%CE%BD)
- [Wikiquote](https://es.wikiquote.org/wiki/Her%C3%B3n_de_Alejandr%C3%ADa)
- [Wikiquote](https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erone_di_Alessandria)
- [Heron von Alexandria](https://als.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron_von_Alexandria)
- [هيرون الإسكندراني](https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%83%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A)

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