Konstantin Ivanovich Konstantinov (; 6 Аpril 1818

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

– 12 January 1871 Nikolaev,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

) was a Russian military officer and scientist in the fields of

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

ry and instrument making. He completed his military career at the rank of

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Life

He was an illegitimate son of

Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia Konstantin Pavlovich (; ) was a grand duke of Russia and the second son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. He was the heir-presumptive for most of his elder brother Alexander I's reign, but had secretly renounced his c ...

and the French actress Clara-Anna de Laurens. At birth, the boy was named ''Konstantin Konstantinovich Konstantinov'' . His father was childless in two marriages, so he spent considerable funds on the upbringing and education of his illegitimate children. For example, music lessons for Konstantin and his sister Constance were given by the young

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

, who was often invited for this purpose to Belvedere, the summer Warsaw residence of the Grand Duke. Constantine Pavlovich's family circumstances were such that his children, Constance and Konstantin, were considered wards (adopted children) of Prince Ivan Alexandrovich Golitsyn, the Grand Duke's adjutant. It was for this reason that their patronymics were subsequently changed. In 1831, during the Polish uprising, Constantine Pavlovich left Poland for Russia, but fell ill with

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

on the way and died in

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

. Prince Golitsyn, together with the 13-year-old Konstantin and his mother Clara-Anne de Laurens, settled in St. Petersburg. In January 1834, fulfilling the will of the late Constantine Pavlovich, Prince Golitsyn assigned the 15-year-old Konstantin to the prestigious Mikhailovskoye Artillery School as a cadet. Konstantinov graduated from Mikhailovskoye Artillery School in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

in 1836. In 1844, he invented a device for measuring the flight speed of

projectile A projectile is an object that is propelled by the application of an external force and then moves freely under the influence of gravity and air resistance. Although any objects in motion through space are projectiles, they are commonly found ...

s at any point of their

trajectory A trajectory or flight path is the path that an object with mass in motion follows through space as a function of time. In classical mechanics, a trajectory is defined by Hamiltonian mechanics via canonical coordinates; hence, a complete tra ...

. In 1847, Konstantinov created a

ballistic Ballistics may refer to: Science * Ballistics, the science that deals with the motion, behavior, and effects of projectiles ** Forensic ballistics, the science of analyzing firearm usage in crimes ** Internal ballistics, the study of the proce ...

rocket

pendulum A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate i ...

, 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 the form and design of a rocket on its ballistic characteristics, thereby laying the foundations for calculated rocket designs. In 1849, he 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 years later. Konstantinov is known to have created structurally perfect

missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this ...

s (for the 19th century) with a range of 4 to 5 km,

launch pad A launch pad is an above-ground facility from which a rocket-powered missile or space vehicle is vertically launched. The term ''launch pad'' can be used to describe just the central launch platform (mobile launcher platform), or the entire c ...

s, and rocket-making machines. He authored a number of works on rocket science, artillery,

firearms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originated ...

pyrotechnics Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating fireworks, but also includes safety matches, oxygen candles, Pyrotechnic fastener, explosive bolts (and other fasteners), parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, q ...

, and

aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design process, design, and manufacturing of air flight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. While the term originally referred ...

. A

crater A crater is a landform consisting of a hole or depression (geology), depression on a planetary surface, usually caused either by an object hitting the surface, or by geological activity on the planet. A crater has classically been described ...

on the

far side of the Moon The far side of the Moon is the hemisphere of the Moon that is facing away from Earth, the opposite hemisphere is the near side. It always has the same surface oriented away from Earth because of synchronous rotation in the Moon's orbit. C ...

is named after him.

External links

Biography of Konstantinov
Konstantinov, Konstantin Konstantinov, Konstantin Konstantinov, Konstantin Konstantinov, Konstantin Konstantinov, Konstantin 19th-century people from the Russian Empire Russian people of French descent House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov {{Russia-mil-bio-stub

Life

See also

External links