1480-1539

Italian Metallurgist

Although he had a tempestuous career in which he found himself embroiled in the political intrigue that characterized Renaissance Italy, Vannoccio Biringuccio is known chiefly for a book that appeared only after his death. This was De la pirotechnica, an encyclopedia of metallurgical knowledge focused more on technique and observation than on scientific generalization.

Biringuccio was born in Siena in 1480, and grew up amid the turmoil of the era. During this period Italy, which had not been united under a single government since Roman times—and would not be again until the 1800s—was dominated by powerful families of warlords and tycoons, the most famous of which were the Borgias and the Medici. The first family of Siena were the Petrucci, and from the beginning of his career Biringuccio was associated with them.

Under the patronage of Pandolfo Petrucci, young Biringuccio traveled throughout...