Vannoccio Biringuccio
Author of the Pirotechnica
Vannoccio Vincenzio Austino Luca Biringuccio was born in Siena, Italy, in 1480, the son of an architect. Biringuccio worked as a metallurgist and traveled about Europe because of political unrest. He was concerned with the outcome of reactions of metals, advancing the science of metallurgy for profit and use whereas the alchemists merely were concerned with investigation of reactions only.
Appearing in 1540, "The Pirotechnica of Vannoccio Biringuccio - The Classic Sixteenth-Century Treatise on Metals and Metallurgy" was the first exhaustive edition of the history of metallurgy. Covering the principle ores (gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, and iron), and the technology of steel making and brass castings in the 15th and 16th centuries.
