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Steam Engine's Complex Origins
- The steam engine resulted from centuries of experimentation and economic needs alongside shrewd business sense.
- It was not the work of a single inventor but a progression of many discoveries and innovations.
Hero's Early Steam Engine
- Hero of Alexandria built the first known steam engine in the 1st century AD called the Yolapile.
- It used steam to rotate a hollow sphere but served no practical purpose beyond curiosity.
Aristotle's Vacuum Misconception
- Aristotle's false claim that vacuums couldn't exist hindered scientific progress for centuries.
- This dogma was challenged only during the Enlightenment by empirical experimentation.