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Kazimierz Siemienowicz (ca.1600-ca.1651)

Polish nobleman (coat-of-arms "Ostoja") from a family settled in Grand Duchy of Lithuania, military engineer and artillery specialist under Kings Wladyslaw IV and Jan II Kazimierz of Poland. Educated in part in the Netherlands, where he was sent by the King Wladyslaw IV to serve in the army of Duke Frederick-Henry of Oran during the war with Spain. From 1648 he served as Second in Command of Polish Royal Artillery, as an expert in the field of artillery and rocketry.

1650:

Publication of his fundamental work "Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima" ("Great Art of Artillery, the First Part") in Amsterdam (translations to: French 1651, German 1676, English and Dutch 1729, Polish 1963). It was used in Europe as a basic artillery manual for almost 200 years. The book contains a large chapter on construction, production and properties of rockets (for both military and civil purposes), including multi-stage rockets (see the figure), batteries of rockets, and rockets with delta-shaped stabilizers (instead of the common guiding rods). The manuscript of the second part was lost, together with its author, in obscure circumstances.

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