Heron of Alexandria

[Anabasis]

Wow! I saw a History Channel special on his inventions awhile ago and I was amazed at this man's many inventions. He created metal birds that sung with water using the principle of hydraulic force! He created small moving characters in a small box for the theatre to tell stories. He used a weight, ropes and sand/seeds which all worked together so that after a certain amount of time, a new story setting would spring up! This is what we might call the first Programme. Heron even had sounds and special effects for it to! Heron even might of produced the first steam engine as well (below), he was only one step away. But he used it as more of a toy for amusement. It makes one think, what if we had an industrial revolution 2000 years ago, what would the world look like today?
Look at his many invention on the second link!




en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_Alexandria

www.history.rochester.edu/steam/hero/