Talk:Hero of Alexandria

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The edit of 21:01 6 Nov 2005 removed the claim that Hero proved his formula, citing Funk and Wagnall. This is bizarre; Hero's proof is well known. As mentioned on Heron's formula, it appears in his Metrica. (This according to Heath, who is about as authoritative an individual as one can imagine on this matter, and, for that matter, who gives the proof in detail.) Accordingly I now restore that claim. --198.166.55.98 23:39, 23 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hercules shoots arrow at hissing dragon when apple is lifted

I've moved this here from the Projects section as it doesn't seem to make any sense or have any context. If anyone can expand on it and tidy it up (assuming it refers to an actual project) then I guess it can be returned. --Myfanwy 17:57, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure who originally wrote the sentence, but it is ambiguous. I believe this is an actualy project of Hero's - "Hercules" is just a little model of Hercules and the "hissing dragon" is a model of a dragon. It's just one of the little mechanical inventions of Hero's. FranksValli 20:56, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

History Channel

I just watched an episode of Ancient Marvels on the History Channel that largely dealt with Hero's works. The program showed a self-refilling vessel that would refill a basin with water to a certain level after water had been removed; however, the program did not say this was one of Hero's works. I am assuming someone saw the program and added the device incorrectly, so I am taking it out. The program also discussed the Hercules contraption mentioned above, I'll add something about that is more clear.--Bkwillwm 23:26, 27 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Is Heron Really Greek?

Wikipedia should be different and not like other encyclopedia that contradict themselves. How do we know heron was a greek? Alexandria was in Africa (Egypt) not Greece. It was ruled (or under the colony) of Greece as at that time. That does not make him Greek. USA was once colonized by Great Britain before the independence.That does not make americans British or all other countries colonized by britain, British. One error that has plagued many encyclopaedia today is the designation of a Greek nationality to some early philosophers that not much is known of. Wikipedia is not like those encyclopedia. How does it seem to read about hero of Alexandria(Egypt) and read that he is greek and then click on the alexandria link only to discover that Alexandria is actually in egypt? Avoid Contradiction. We have a clue to his nationality. That clue is his name. "heron of alexandria". In those days people were surnamed after there place of origin/birth. I am considering changing the greek nationality to egyptian nationality or at least removing the word "greek". io_anthony 20:37 Sep 23, 2006 (UTC)

EDIT Anonymous Greek has a question. If Heron of Alexandria was an Egyptian, why did the titles of his writings were in Greek:

Works known to be of Hero's hand:

  *' Pneumatica', a description of machines working on air, steam or water pressure, including the hydraulis or water organ.[1]
   * Automata, a description of machines which enable wonders in temples by mechanical or pneumatical means (e.g. automatic opening or closing of temple doors, statues that pour wine, etc.). See Automata.
   * Mechanica, written for architects, containing means to lift heavy objects.
   * Metrica, a description of how to calculate surfaces and volumes of diverse objects.
   * On the Dioptra, a collection of methods to measure lengths. In this work the odometer is described, and also an apparatus which resembles a theodolite.
   * Belopoeica, a description of war machines.
   * Catoptrica, about the progression of light, reflection and the use of mirro

Lecture notes

It is also believed that Hero taught at the Museum in Alexandria because most of his writings appear as lecture notes for courses in mathematics, mechanics, physics and pneumatics.

Is this for real? As in, one of the main reasons we know about his stuff is the lecture notes students were making in this guy's classes? ManicParroT 19:41, 11 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, "lecture notes" means notes that Hero would have made as notes for himself when delivering lectures.--Mathew5000 00:53, 19 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How complete is the biblioigraphy?

The Eleventh Edition Encyclopaedia Britannica [1] lists some other works not currently mentioned in this Wikipedia article, unless I am misunderstanding something. It says: "The geometrical treatises which have survived (though not interpolated) in Greek are entitled respectively Definitiones, Geometria, Geodaesia, Stereometrica (i. and ii.), Mensurae, Liber Geoponicus, to which must now be added the Metrica recently discovered by R. Schöne in a MS. at Constantinople. These books, except the Definitiones, mostly consist of directions for obtaining, from given parts, the areas or volumes, and other parts, of plane or solid figures. A remarkable feature is the bare statement of a number of very close approximations to the square roots of numbers which are not complete squares." --Mathew5000 19:03, 16 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Can we add a link to a small invention of Heron of Alexandria?

When I was young, my brother made a long chain out of key chain loops where when you drop one and it looks like it drops down the chain. It is either called the Magic Chain or the Chain of Heron. I had trouble (as an adult) finding this on the web and it took months of going to the library and looking online to find it. Does the Wikipedia include small but very old inventions and how to build them? I finally found it (a couple of years ago) and saved the web pages.

Can we add this somehow? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by LarryAGrossman (talk • contribs) 17:39, 29 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]

History Channel part 2

I watched a fascinating show last night on the History Channel called "Machines of the Gods" which is a part of the "Ancient Discoveries" series. A good deal of the show was dedicated to Heron, specifically the many devices he invented that were used by the temples to help instill faith, awe and new members and such. It appears he made the very first weeping statue where the eyes of a statue/icon would bleed. I've looked at some of the links on this article and found a few devices he made for the temples but I'm mostly interested in the bleeding statue(s). Does anyone have a link or an idea where I could find out more on the subject? I'm planning to work some on the weeping statue article and this would be a great historical piece to add to it. Cheers! Mr Christopher 15:34, 7 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]