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Ctesibius Alexandrinus (249 BC - 249 BC)


 
Greek mechanic and engineer

By tradition, it is told that he was the son of a barber whose shop was near the Museum of Alexandria that was the most important scientific institution of the classic age and was later directed by Ctesibius himself. The first invention by Ctesibius was made for his father’s shop: a polished bronze mirror hold by a rope and a counterweight that could be placed at any possible height in the shop. Probably this device by Ctesibius attracted the attention of the scientists of the near museum and from this, started his career. By the tradition, lots of inventions are credited to Ctesibius, among the most important are the followings: the two cylinders water pump, the water organ, the air spring ballista, the bronze spring catapult.
   
variant spelling:
Ctesibius Alexandrinus; Ctesibius ; Ktesibios ; Ktesibios ; Ctesibio
   
Curriculum vitae  
4. century BC - 2. century BC He invented the water organ
4. century BC - 2. century BC He invented the air spring balista
4. century BC - 2. century BC He invented the two cylinders water pump
* 4. century BC - 2. century BC Alexandria (Egypt) born
† 4. century BC - 2. century BC Alexandria (Egypt) died
? Alexandria (Egypt) He lived in Alexandria in the Ptolemaic Egypt during the III Century B.C.
Secondary literature
 
thumbnail of984009 Die Herausbildung der technischen Mechanik und ihr Anteil bei der Verwissenschaftlichung des Maschinenwesens, in: Dresdener Beiträge zur Geschichte der Technikwissenschaften
Author: Mauersberger, Klaus
Published: 1980
no fulltext found Die Maschine ; Geschichte, Elemente, Funktion ; ein enzyklopädisches Sachbuch
Author: Strandh, Sigvard
Published: 1992
thumbnail of1570009 Beiträge zur Geschichte des Maschinenbaues
Author: Beck, Theodor
Published: 1899
no fulltext found Ktesibios, Philon and Heron
Author: Drachmann, Aage Gerhardt
Published: 1948
no fulltext found Geschichte der Technikwissenschaften
Author: Sonnemann, Rolf Paul Heinz (Ed.); Buchheim, Gisela (Ed.)
Published: 1990
no fulltext found A history of ancient mechanics ; from Aristotle to Pappus, in: Proceedings HMM 2000 : International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms
Author: Oliveira, Agamenon R. E.
Published: 2000
thumbnail of5731009 Proceedings of Twelfth World Congress in Mechanism and Machine Science: Machines imitating living creatures motion - historical overview
Author: Zielinska, Teresa
Published: 2007
no fulltext found Die Enkel des Archimedes ; Eine etwas andere Kulturgeschichte der Hebezeuge
Author: Barthel, Manfred
Published: 1995
 
Images
 
Ctesibius_Reconstruction of a mechanism_1
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Ctesibius_Reconstruction of a mechanism_2
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Ctesibio_organo ad acqua
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Ctesibio_pompa idraulica
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Ctesibio_balestra
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Ctesibio_balestra_2
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Ctesibio_balestra_3
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Permanent links
DMG-Lib FaviconDMG-Lib https://www.dmg-lib.org/dmglib/handler?biogr=953004
Europeana FaviconEuropeana  http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/2020801/dmglib_handler_biogr_953004.html
GBV FaviconGBV  http://gso.gbv.de/PPN?PPN=07674924X
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