Konstantin Konstantinov

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Konstantin Ivanovich Konstantinov (Константин Иванович Константинов in Russian) (1817 or 1819 - January 12(24).1871) was a Russian scientist in the field of artillery, rocketry, instrument making, and automatics, Lieutenant General (1864).

Konstantin Konstantinov graduated from Mikhailovskoye Artillery School in St.Petersburg in 1836. In 1844, he invented a device for measuring flight speed of projectiles at any point of their trajectory. In 1847, Konstantinov created a ballistic rocket pendulum, which would allow to establish a law of changing rocket motion in time. With the help of this device, he was able to determine the influence of form and design of a rocket on its ballistic characteristics, thereby laying the foundations for calculated rocket designs. In 1849, Konstantinov was appointed commander of the Petersburg Rocketry Department (Петербургское ракетное заведение). In 1861, he supervised the construction of a rocket factory in Nikolayev, which he would head six year later.

Konstantinov is known to have created structurally perfect missiles (for the 19th century) with the range of 4 to 5 km, launch pads, and rocket-making machines. He authored a number of works on rocket science, artillery, firearms, pyrotechnics, and aeronautics. A crater on the far side of the Moon is named after Konstantin Konstantinov.