Faust Vrančić
Faust Vrančić was born in Šibenik in 1551 and is one of the most important Croatians of all time. He was a man of broad interests, extremely respected in the most influential circles of the time. He was a Catholic priest, bishop, philosopher, lawyer, historian, theologian, linguist, mathematician, inventor…
He is the author of the first printed Croatian dictionary, and it is interesting that he was also the author of the first Hungarian dictionary, in which he introduced the double letters ly, ny, sz, and cz, and established that 304 Hungarian words were borrowed from the Croatian language. This dictionary, named “Dictionary of the Five Most Respected European Languages”, in addition to Croatian and Hungarian, also contained Latin, Italian and German. It was published in 1595 in Venice, and is considered the beginning of Croatian lexicography.
Faust Vrančić was the most important Croatian constructor and technical writer at the turn of the 16th to the 17th century, and his technical achievements are what he is most remembered for today, which speaks volumes for his importance in view of his enormous contributions in other sciences as well.
He presented a large part of his own inventions, as well as reworking and improvement of other people’s inventions, in a book entitled: “New machines of Faust Vrančić Šibenčanin”, and the descriptions of the machines were written in Latin and Italian.
His most famous invention is the parachute, and the world mostly remembers him for it today, but bridges and mills also stand out in his inventive work. He was the first in the history of technology to present the idea of a bridge made of metal, and he also invented the construction of the suspension bridge, as well as the forerunner of the modern cable car. He perfected mills, introduced numerous innovations and concepts that would only be realized centuries later, which shows what a visionary he was, and he also invented the first shock absorber in the history of technology.
Just as one Croatian inventor made it possible for people to master electricity, two other Croatian inventors made it possible to master the sea, in a military or food sense, so Faust Vrančić, with his invention of the parachute, in a way made it possible for man to master the sky.
The great Leonardo da Vinci made a sketch of a parachute, but no one before Faust Vrančić had ever succeeded in making a functional parachute in practice.
Faust Vrančić’s parachute has all the structural elements of parachutes that are still used today, and Vrančić aptly named his project of making a parachute “Homo Volans” or “Flying Man”.
Vrančić allegedly became a “flying man” himself and allegedly tested his invention by successfully jumping from the bell tower of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice.
There is no evidence for this jump, but there is ample evidence of the world fame of Faust Vrančić, which thanks to this revolutionary invention, this great Croatian scientist carries to this day. At the 94th General Assembly of the World Aviation Federation, which was held from 17 to 21 October 2001 in Switzerland, a decision was adopted to award the “Faust Vrančić Medal”, which is awarded worldwide for innovations in parachuting.
Vrančić is also known for the construction of various bridges, and it is interesting that his designs, still available in museums today, served as inspiration for the bridges in Dubrovnik, as well as the world-famous “Golden Gate” bridge in San Francisco.
Faust Vrančić, because of his exceptional achievements in numerous fields of science, are known both to Italians and Hungarians, but Faust spoke proudly of his homeland in his book “New machines” describing the cathedral in Šibenik: “it is extremely beautiful and of an unusual shape, so I wanted it , as a part of my homeland, to include here among my new discoveries…”