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When Does an Invention Become a Technology? - Hero of Alexandria and the Aeolipile | Sleepy Facts About History
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In the first century CE, a Greek engineer named Hero of Alexandria built a working steam device called the aeolipile. It was a hollow metal sphere that spun above boiling water, demonstrating pneumatic principles long before the industrial revolution. Yet, as far as the historical record shows, it went nowhere. No workshops adopted it, no supply chains formed, and no one trained others to use it. This episode explores the fundamental question of why a working machine does not automatically…
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