Heron

Heron of Alexandria

Born: about 65 in (possibly) Alexandria, Egypt
Died: about 125

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Sometimes called Hero, Heron was an important geometer and worker in mechanics. Metrica deals with areas of triangles, quadrilaterals, regular polygons of between 3 and 12 sides, surfaces of cones, cylinders, prism, pyramids, spheres etc.

Heron also proves his famous formula:

if A is the area of a triangle with sides a, b and c and s=(a+b+c)/2 then A^2= s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c).

Pneumatica deals with among 100 machines such as a fire engine, a wind organ etc. Dioptra deals with theodolites and surveying. Catoptrica deals with mirrors.

References elsewhere in this archive:

Tell me about his 'minimal path'

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. T L Heath, A History of Greek Mathematics II (Oxford, 1921), Chapter 18.
  4. A G Drachmann, Ktesibios, Philon, and Heron, a Study in Ancient Pneumatics (1948).
  5. M Cantor, Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Mathematik I (Leipzig, 1908). 
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JOC/EFR February 1996