Author: Mark Denny Publisher: JHU Press ISBN: 0801899818 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 246
Book Description
The science of ballistics has a long history and starts with one question: How does a projectile move through the air? Even before physicists worked that one out, military engineers had been tinkering with ballistic devices for centuries. The trebuchet of the Middle Ages has given way to rocket power, and the science of ballistics has evolved to match the technology. Mark Denny’s survey covers this dynamic subject from prehistory to the weapons of tomorrow. Taking the bang-whiz-thud approach, Denny first talks about internal ballistics—Bang!—from before gunpowder to the development of modern firearms. External ballistics—Whiz!—are next, with discussions about short- and long-range trajectories. Denny’s lesson ends with a Thud!—an explanation of terminal ballistics. Throughout, Denny conveys applicable physics principles in a way that will appeal to technology buffs and ballistics enthusiasts alike. His fun and factual explanations are free of complicated equations; notes cover the key aspects of ballistics physics for the more technically inclined. Denny has perfected this engaging balance of science and story. For study or hobby, Their Arrows Will Darken the Sun is an entertaining guide to the world of ballistics.
Author: Mark Denny Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN: 9780801898563 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
The science of ballistics has a long history and starts with one question: How does a projectile move through the air? Even before physicists worked that one out, military engineers had been tinkering with ballistic devices for centuries. The trebuchet of the Middle Ages has given way to rocket power, and the science of ballistics has evolved to match the technology. Mark Denny’s survey covers this dynamic subject from prehistory to the weapons of tomorrow. Taking the bang-whiz-thud approach, Denny first talks about internal ballistics—Bang!—from before gunpowder to the development of modern firearms. External ballistics—Whiz!—are next, with discussions about short- and long-range trajectories. Denny’s lesson ends with a Thud!—an explanation of terminal ballistics. Throughout, Denny conveys applicable physics principles in a way that will appeal to technology buffs and ballistics enthusiasts alike. His fun and factual explanations are free of complicated equations; notes cover the key aspects of ballistics physics for the more technically inclined. Denny has perfected this engaging balance of science and story. For study or hobby, Their Arrows Will Darken the Sun is an entertaining guide to the world of ballistics.
Author: Oleg Rusakovskiy Publisher: BRILL ISBN: 9004710531 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 366
Book Description
This book discusses the role Western military books and their translations played in 17th-century Russia. By tracing how these translations were produced, distributed and read, the study argues that foreign military treatises significantly shaped intellectual culture of the Russian elite. It also presents Tsar Peter the Great in a new light – not only as a military and political leader but as a devoted book reader and passionate student of military science.
Author: Stuart Ellis-Gorman Publisher: Pen and Sword Military ISBN: 1526789566 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 238
Book Description
An in-depth, illustrated history and technical study of this iconic weapon of the Middle Ages. The crossbow is an iconic weapon of the Middle Ages and, alongside the longbow, one of the most effective ranged weapons of the pre-gunpowder era. Unfortunately, despite its general fame it has been decades since an in-depth history of the medieval crossbow has been published, which is why Stuart Ellis-Gorman’s detailed, accessible, and highly illustrated study is so valuable. The Medieval Crossbow approaches the history of the crossbow from two directions. The first is a technical study of the design and construction of the medieval crossbow, the many different kinds of crossbows used during the Middle Ages, and finally a consideration of the relationship between crossbows and art. The second half of the book explores the history of the crossbow, from its origins in ancient China to its decline in sixteenth-century Europe. Along the way it explores the challenges in deciphering the crossbow’s early medieval history as well as its prominence in warfare and sport shooting in the High and Later Middle Ages. This fascinating book brings together the work of a wide range of accomplished crossbow scholars and incorporates the author’s own original research to create an account of the medieval crossbow that will appeal to anyone looking to gain an insight into one of the most important weapons of the Middle Ages.
Author: Mark Denny Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 3030280802 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 303
Book Description
This is a book about rocket science: what it is and what it does. From the earliest fireworks to nuclear-powered spacecraft, all you would ever want or need to know about the subject is here, along with a straightforward explanation of how, why and when things work—or sometimes don't. We begin with the history and workings of early terrestrial rocketry before moving onto the main subject of the book: how we get things into space and, on occasion, back again. Entirely math-free, the chapters weave together innumerable anecdotes, real-world examples, and easy walk-throughs to help readers break down the complex physics behind some of humankind’s most amazing feats. Neither a pure textbook nor a populist space travel tome, the book will educate, inform and above all entertain anyone intrigued by rocket science.
Author: Tonio Andrade Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 0691178143 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 444
Book Description
A first look at gunpowder's revolutionary impact on China's role in global history The Chinese invented gunpowder and began exploring its military uses as early as the 900s, four centuries before the technology passed to the West. But by the early 1800s, China had fallen so far behind the West in gunpowder warfare that it was easily defeated by Britain in the Opium War of 1839–42. What happened? In The Gunpowder Age, Tonio Andrade offers a compelling new answer, opening a fresh perspective on a key question of world history: why did the countries of western Europe surge to global importance starting in the 1500s while China slipped behind? Historians have long argued that gunpowder weapons helped Europeans establish global hegemony. Yet the inhabitants of what is today China not only invented guns and bombs but also, as Andrade shows, continued to innovate in gunpowder technology through the early 1700s—much longer than previously thought. Why, then, did China become so vulnerable? Andrade argues that one significant reason is that it was out of practice fighting wars, having enjoyed nearly a century of relative peace, since 1760. Indeed, he demonstrates that China—like Europe—was a powerful military innovator, particularly during times of great warfare, such as the violent century starting after the Opium War, when the Chinese once again quickly modernized their forces. Today, China is simply returning to its old position as one of the world's great military powers. By showing that China’s military dynamism was deeper, longer lasting, and more quickly recovered than previously understood, The Gunpowder Age challenges long-standing explanations of the so-called Great Divergence between the West and Asia.
Author: Christopher M. Graney Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess ISBN: 0268080771 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 288
Book Description
Setting Aside All Authority is an important account and analysis of seventeenth-century scientific arguments against the Copernican system. Christopher M. Graney challenges the long-standing ideas that opponents of the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus and Galileo were primarily motivated by religion or devotion to an outdated intellectual tradition, and that they were in continual retreat in the face of telescopic discoveries. Graney calls on newly translated works by anti-Copernican writers of the time to demonstrate that science, not religion, played an important, and arguably predominant, role in the opposition to the Copernican system. Anti-Copernicans, building on the work of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, were in fact able to build an increasingly strong scientific case against the heliocentric system at least through the middle of the seventeenth century, several decades after the advent of the telescope. The scientific case reached its apogee, Graney argues, in the 1651 New Almagest of the Italian Jesuit astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli, who used detailed telescopic observations of stars to construct a powerful scientific argument against Copernicus. Setting Aside All Authority includes the first English translation of Monsignor Francesco Ingoli’s essay to Galileo (disputing the Copernican system on the eve of the Inquisition’s condemnation of it in 1616) and excerpts from Riccioli's reports regarding his experiments with falling bodies.
Author: Gregory S. Aldrete Publisher: JHU Press ISBN: 1421408198 Category : Art Languages : en Pages : 299
Book Description
Alexander the Great led one of the most successful armies in history and conquered nearly the entirety of the known world while wearing armor made of cloth. How is that possible? This title provides the answer. It presents a thorough investigation of the linothorax, linen armor worn by Greeks, Macedonians, and other ancient Mediterranean warriors.
Author: Mark Denny
Author: Mark Denny
Author: Oleg Rusakovskiy
Author: Henry Allon
Author: Stuart Ellis-Gorman
Author: Mark Denny
Author: 
Author: Tonio Andrade
Author: Christopher M. Graney
Author: Gregory S. Aldrete