Inkstainedwretch
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The invention you're thinking of is the aeolipile, which was invented by a Greek scientist at the Museum of Alexandria which was, incidentally, the first pure research facility. Several times in Classical antiquity the possibilities of steam power were demonstrated, but the ancient world had abundant slave labor and therefore no motivation to develop labor-saving devices. It took the labor shortages of the 18th century to bring about the Industrial Revolution.Years ago (hence, this is from an old memory), I saw a special on ancient Roman technology and they had something called a steam ball. it was a metal ball suspended on an axel over a fire with two valves pointed in a away that when steam came out, it pushed the ball into a continuous spinning motion.
Rome never took it any further and saw it as a curio (again, based on my old memory). But effectively, they had the rudimentary element of a steam engine and with it the ability to harness its power. But to your point, no one in Rome grasped the implications. Boy would the world be a different place today if Rome had had a very early industrial revolution.