Kazimierz Siemienowicz

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.

As Siemienowicz wrote, he was fascinated by artillery since childhood, and he studied many sciences to increase his knowledge (mathematics, mechanics, hydraulics, architecture, optics, tactics).

[14] He spent some time in the Netherlands, where he was sent by the King Władysław IV Vasa to serve in the army of Duke Frederick Henry of Orange during the war with Spain; he participated in the Siege of Hulst in 1645.

[7] In 1646 he returned to Poland when Władysław created the Polish artillery corps and gathered specialists from Europe, planning a war with Ottoman Empire.

In late 1648 the newly elected king John II Casimir Vasa, who had no plans for the war with Ottomans, advised him to return to the Netherlands and publish his studies there.

[15] There are rumors that in 1649 Siemienowicz became embroiled in a conflict with General of the Artillery Krzysztof Arciszewski over a bureaucratic matter;[14] around 1649 he decided to leave the Commonwealth and work on his book in Amsterdam.

In 1650 Siemienowicz published a notable work, Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima (Great Art of Artillery, the First Part).

Siemienowicz disparaged what he saw as a culture of secrecy based on "canting Alchymists of the times Past...they dealed in nothing but Smoke, yet arrogantly took upon them to be Professors of so noble and excellent an art as Chymistry.

"[19] Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima was first printed in Amsterdam in 1650, was translated to French in 1651, German in 1676, English and Dutch in 1729, and Polish in 1963.