Originally used to describe a device, invented in the second century BC, in which a closed, water-filled vessel, when heated, was made to rotate by jets of steam issuing from one or more projecting, bent tubes. First described by Hero of Alexandria, but most surviving aeolipiles are Islamic. Sometimes spelled eolipile.
The things people got up to before "American Idol"...
Originally used to describe a device, invented in the second century BC, in which a closed, water-filled vessel, when heated, was made to rotate by jets of steam issuing from one or more projecting, bent tubes. First described by Hero of Alexandria, but most surviving aeolipiles are Islamic. Sometimes spelled eolipile.