At least one source credits Vitruvius, rather than Hero of Alexandria, as the first to describe the aeolipile.
Notes on verification
Multiple independent sources (Wikipedia, SciHi, MacTutor/St Andrews) corroborate that Vitruvius mentioned the aeolipile in De Architectura roughly a century before Hero's more detailed account, supporting the narrower claim about priority of mention. [tier=unverified indep_score=0.3 clusters=3 claim_tier=notable] [rescored 2026-09-15: curated origin-host map (PR #65); unclassified hosts no longer scored as aggregators]
Sources
- Aeolipile (wikipedia)
- http://scihi.org/hero-alexandria/ (corroboration)
- https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/SH/heron_sh.pdf (corroboration)
- https://www.missedhistory.com/article/hero-alexandria-aeolipile-steam-engine-ancient (corroboration)