author
Sir William Congreve
1772–1828
Best known for developing the Congreve rocket, he helped turn military rocketry into a major weapon during the Napoleonic era. He was also a British Army officer, inventor, publisher, and Tory politician whose work left a mark far beyond the battlefield.
1 Audiobook
The Details of the Rocket System
by Sir William Congreve
About the author
Born on May 20, 1772, Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet, built his reputation as an inventor at a time when Britain was deeply involved in war and rapid technological change. He is most closely associated with the Congreve rocket, a weapon adapted from earlier Mysorean rocket technology and developed for British military use.
Congreve's rockets were used during the Napoleonic Wars and became famous enough to enter popular memory, especially through the phrase "the rockets' red glare" in the United States national anthem. Alongside his scientific and military interests, he also served as a Tory politician and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
He died in Toulouse, France, on May 16, 1828, just days before his fifty-sixth birthday. Though he worked on more than one invention, his name remains tied above all to the early history of modern rocketry.