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Johann Schmidlap was a 16th-century Bavarian fireworks maker and rocket pioneer. Schmidlap was most likely born in Schorndorf, but not much is known about his life. He is occasionally referred to by the nicknames von Schorndorff or the Elder.
He published a book on fireworks, Künstliche und rechtschaffene Feuerwerck zum Schimpff ("artful and well-made fireworks for entertainment"), printed in Nuremberg in 1561 (reprinted 1564, new edition by Katharina Gerlachin in 1590, 1591).
He may have been the first to successfully fly staged rockets, although the concept is also discussed in the work of Conrad Haas, which was a direct influence on Schmidlap. [1]
Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays, combining a large number of devices in an outdoor setting. Such displays are the focal point of many cultural and religious celebrations, though mismanagement could lead to fireworks accidents.
Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating such things as fireworks, safety matches, oxygen candles, explosive bolts and other fasteners, parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, quarrying, and demolition. This trade relies upon self-contained and self-sustained exothermic chemical reactions to make heat, light, gas, smoke and/or sound. The name comes from the Greek words pyr ("fire") and tekhnikos.
A skyrocket is a type of firework that uses a solid-fuel rocket to rise quickly into the sky; a bottle rocket is a small skyrocket. At the apex of its ascent, it is usual for a variety of effects to be emitted. Skyrockets use various stabilisation techniques to ensure the flight follows a predictable course, often a long stick attached to the side of the motor, but also including spin-stabilisation or fins.
A firecracker is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment; any visual effect is incidental to this goal. They have fuses, and are wrapped in a heavy paper casing to contain the explosive compound. Firecrackers, along with fireworks, originated in China.
A Roman candle is a traditional type of firework that ejects one or more stars or exploding shells. Roman candles come in a variety of sizes, from 6 mm (0.24 in) diameter for consumers, up to 8 cm (3.1 in) diameter in professional fireworks displays.
Kazimierz Siemienowicz was a general of artillery, gunsmith, military engineer, and one of pioneers of rocketry. Born in the Raseiniai region of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, he served in the armies of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, the ruler of the Dutch Republic. No portrait or detailed biography of him has survived and much of his life is a subject of dispute.
Conrad Haas (1509–1576) was an Austrian or Transylvanian Saxon military engineer. He was a pioneer of rocket propulsion. His designs include a three-stage rocket and a manned rocket.
Schorndorf is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located approximately 26 km east of Stuttgart. Its train station is the terminus of the S2 line of the Stuttgart S-Bahn.
Rouketopolemos is a local traditional event held annually at Easter in the town of Vrontados (Βροντάδος) on the Greek island of Chios. As a variation of the Greek custom of throwing fireworks during the celebration of the service at midnight before Easter Sunday, two rival church congregations in the town perform a "rocket war" by firing tens of thousands of home-made rockets across town, with the objective of hitting the bell tower of the church of the other side. The rockets are wooden sticks loaded with a propellant mixture containing gunpowder, and are launched from grooved platforms.
A rocket is a pyrotechnic firework made out of a paper tube packed with gunpowder that is propelled into the air. Types of rockets include the skyrockets, which have a stick to provide stability during airborne flight; missiles, which instead rotate for stability or are shot out of a tube; and bottle rockets, smaller fireworks – 1½ in (3.8 cm) long, though the attached stick extends the total length to approximately 12 in (30 cm) – that usually contain whistle effects.
Consumer fireworks are fireworks sold for use by the general public. They are generally weaker in explosive power than the fireworks used in professional displays.
Way...Way Out is a 1966 American comedy science fiction film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Jerry Lewis. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox and produced by Malcolm Stuart. The film, released on October 26, 1966, was both a critical and commercial flop, recouping less than half of its production budget. It is also Lewis' first movie for Fox.
Ready, Set, Zoom! is a 1955 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on April 30, 1955, and stars Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
Whoa, Be-Gone! is a 1958 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on April 12, 1958, and stars Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
Oh! Edo Rocket is a 2001 stage play written for the Gekidan Shinkansen theater troupe by Kazuki Nakashima and directed by Hidenori Inōe, with a novelization released in August of the same year. A manga adaptation illustrated by Una Hamana was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon from February 2007 to July 2009, with its chapters collected in three tankōbon volumes. A twenty-six episode anime television series by Madhouse was broadcast in Japan from April to September 2007. It is a comedic story often breaking the fourth wall, that involves a fireworks maker in medieval Edo and his efforts to build a rocket to carry an alien back to her people on the Moon. The anime series was licensed in North America by Funimation.
Yanshuei District, alternatively spelled Yanshui, is a district in Tainan, Taiwan, which is famous for its notoriously dangerous fireworks festival. The annual event commemorates a cholera epidemic more than a century ago, the fireworks symbolizing the exorcism of demons associated with the plague. The festival, known as Fengpao, is celebrated on the 15th day after the beginning of the Lunar New Year, also called Shang Yuan Festival.
Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket is a c. 1875 painting by James McNeill Whistler held in the Detroit Institute of Arts. The painting exemplified the art for art's sake movement – a concept formulated by Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier and Charles Baudelaire.
Mexican handcrafted fireworks production is mostly concentrated in the State of Mexico in central Mexico. The self-declared fireworks capital of Mexico is Tultepec, just north of Mexico City. Although the main ingredient for fireworks, gunpowder, was brought by the conquistadors in the 16th century, fireworks became popular in Mexico in the 19th century. Today, it is Latin America’s second largest producer, almost entirely for domestic use, with products ranging from small firecrackers to large shells and frames for pyrotechnics called “castillos” (castles) and “toritos”. The industry is artisanal, with production concentrated in family-owned workshops and small factories with a number operating illegally. The relatively informal production and sales of fireworks have made it dangerous with a number of notable accidents in from the late 1990s to the present, despite attempts to safety regulations.
"The Remarkable Rocket" is a short fairytale that was first published in 1888 in The Happy Prince and Other Tales which is a collection of five fairytales written by Oscar Wilde.
Claude Ruggieri was a pyrotechnician in Paris, France, who developed and wrote about innovations in fireworks design. He and others in his family were renowned and patronized by royalty for their creation of great fireworks extravaganzas. They also opened a public pleasure garden where fireworks displays could be enjoyed by the people of Paris. The Ruggieris introduced a style of fireworks that was theatrical rather than being based on military gunnery.
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