Ctesibius

This article is about the inventor and mathematician. For the lunar crater, see Ctesibius (crater). For the beetle genus, see Ctesibius (beetle).
Ctesibius
BornBefore 285 BCE
Diedc. 222 BCE
Alexandria, Egypt
NationalityAlexandrian Greek
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
Ctesibius' water clock, as visualized by the 17th-century French architect Claude Perrault

Ctesibius or Ktesibios or Tesibius (‹See Tfd›Greek: Κτησίβιος; fl. 285–222 BCE) was a Greek inventor and mathematician in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt.[1] Very little is known of Ctesibius' life, but his inventions were well known in his lifetime.[2] He was likely the first head of the Museum of Alexandria. He wrote the first treatises on the science of compressed air and its uses in pumps (and even in a kind of cannon). This, in combination with his work On pneumatics on the elasticity of air, earned him the title of "father of pneumatics." None of his written work has survived, including his Memorabilia, a compilation of his research that was cited by Athenaeus. Ctesibius' most commonly known invention today is a pipe organ (hydraulis), a predecessor of the modern church organ.

  1. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica: Ctesibius. "Greek physicist and inventor, the first great figure of the ancient engineering tradition of Alexandria, Egypt."
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference hoff was invoked but never defined (see the help page).