Vannoccio Biringuccio | |
|---|---|
 Vannoccio Biringuccio as depicted in the Specola Museum in Florence. | |
| Born | c. 1480 |
| Died | c. 1539 (aged 58 or 59) |
| Parent(s) | Paolo Biringuccio and Lucrezia di Bartolommeo Biringuccio. |
| Engineering career | |
| Significant advance | metallurgist |
Vannoccio Biringuccio, sometimes spelledVannocio Biringuccio (c. 1480 – c. 1539), was an Italianmetallurgist. He is best known for his manual onmetalworking,De la pirotechnia, published posthumously in 1540.[1]
Biringuccio was born inSiena as the son of Paolo Biringuccio, presumably an architect, and Lucrezia di Bartolommeo Biringuccio. He was baptised on October 20, 1480.[citation needed]
He was a follower ofPandolfo Petrucci, the head of the powerfulPetrucci family. Pandolfo employed him as a metallurgist. When Pandolfo died, Biringuccio remained tied to the Petrucci family, being employed by Pandolfo's sonBorghese Petrucci. However, the uprising of 1515 forced Borghese to flee from Siena, taking Biringuccio with him. Biringuccio traveled about Italy, and visitedSicily in 1517.[citation needed]
In 1523Pope Clement VII caused the reinstatement of the Petrucci family, and along with them Biringuccio was able to return from exile. In 1524 he was granted a monopoly on the production ofsaltpeter across all of Siena. However, this was short lived—in 1526, the people of Siena revolted and threw the Petrucci family out again. The family made an attempt (aided by Biringuccio) to regain Siena by force, but it failed.[citation needed]
In 1530, Siena entered a more peaceful phase, and Biringuccio returned. He was a Senator of the city in January and February 1531, and took part in various projects.[citation needed]
In 1536, he was offered a job in Rome by the Church, and in 1538 he became head of the papal foundry, and director of munitions.[citation needed]
His exact place and date of death is unknown; all that is known is that a document dated 1539 mentions his death.[citation needed]
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Biringuccio is considered by some as the father of thefoundry industry, as hisDe la pirotechnia is the first printed account of proper foundry practice. It also gives details ofmining practice, the extraction andrefining of numerousmetals,alloys such asbrass, andcompounds used in foundries andexplosives. It preceded the printing ofDe re metallica byGeorgius Agricola by 14 years.
Biringuccio was a member of the secretive guildFraternità di Santa Barbara. Before his book's publication, information on metallurgy and military arts were closely held secrets; his book is credited with starting the tradition of scientific and technical literature.[2]
In his career, he was in charge of anironmine nearSiena, and also in charge of itsmint andarsenal. He was in charge ofcastingcannons forVenice and laterFlorence.
The work is one of earliest technical manuscripts to survive from theRenaissance, and is thus a valuable source of information on technical practice at the time of writing. The work was printed in 1540 inVenice, and has been reprinted numerous times.
It is divided into ten books dealing withminerals,semi-minerals,assaying,smelting, the separation ofgold fromsilver,alloys, the art ofcasting metals (especiallybells andcannons), andalchemy. He describes in detail the waymoulds are made for casting so as to avoid defects, including the way patterns are made for the final product shape.
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Smith, C.S. (1970–1980). "Biringuccio, Vannoccio".Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 142–143.ISBN 978-0-684-10114-9.
