Episode 32 - Hero of Alexandria - A Hero to us all

2025-07-30

This week, Benjamin Cornish invites you to step into the steam-powered sandals of Hero of Alexandria—the ancient world’s most enthusiastic gadgeteer. Was he a mathematician? An engineer? A magician in a toga? Yes. Yes. And absolutely yes. From vending machines that accepted drachmas to the first recorded steam engine (that did absolutely nothing useful), Hero turned math into motion and geometry into gears. Join us as we unpack Hero’s life in the shadow of Archimedes, his flair for theatrical autom...

This week, Benjamin Cornish invites you to step into the steam-powered sandals of Hero of Alexandria—the ancient world’s most enthusiastic gadgeteer. Was he a mathematician? An engineer? A magician in a toga? Yes. Yes. And absolutely yes. From vending machines that accepted drachmas to the first recorded steam engine (that did absolutely nothing useful), Hero turned math into motion and geometry into gears.

Join us as we unpack Hero’s life in the shadow of Archimedes, his flair for theatrical automation, and his deeply satisfying triangle-area formula that has saved generations of students from drawing impossible altitudes. Along the way, we reflect on mirrors, vending machines, and whether Hero secretly invented the Rube Goldberg machine 1,900 years before Goldberg was born.

Keywords: Hero of Alexandria, ancient mathematics, triangle area formula, aeolipile, Greek engineering, historical inventions, automata, classical geometry, ancient optics, early machines, Metrica, Heron’s formula, steam engine history

Hashtags:
#MathsPodcast #HistoryOfMaths #HeroOfAlexandria #AncientInventions #SteamPowerBeforeItWasCool #MathematicalHistory #EngineeringOrigins #HeronsFormula #Pneumatics #AlexandriaEra

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