“She could have gored him he would not care
When it comes to emotions, it was all bare!
The heart was broken he had enough
The venom of her words were the most tough..”
Henry was born at Midway Manor in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England, the ninth child of Zachariah and his wife Lydia.
In 1784, while a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, he perfected, with his own resources, an invention of what he called “spherical case” ammunition: a hollow cannonball filled with lead shot that burst in mid-air. He successfully demonstrated this in 1787 at Gibraltar!
He intended the device as an anti-personnel weapon!
In 1803, the British Army adopted a similar but elongated explosive shell which immediately acquired the inventor’s name!
Until the end of World War I, the shells were still manufactured according to his original principles.
The ammunition invented by him used to cause multiple injuries and were a big cause of concern for the trauma surgeons all over the world! So much so that any injury with such an ammunition was a death sentence for those unfortunate enough to get hit by it!
You must have certainly heard the name of this time of ammunition or injury even if you are not a trauma surgeon or even a war veteran! In fact the name is so common that it is a part of the dictionary and general vocabulary!
Henry’s full name was Henry Shrapnel!
Yes! The name of ammunition is shrapnel!
Shrapnel of course by definition refers to fragments of something that has exploded, usually a bomb, but could even be from a gunshot or some other explosion that has sent pieces of dangerous debris flying. Those pieces are shrapnel!
Modern anti-personnel bombs are made using this concept, devices filled with things like ball bearings or nails that maim and kill in a much larger area than a single explosion by itself would! And you thought only bullets kill! Shrapnel and words can do much worse!
In 1814, the British Government recognized Henry’s contribution by awarding him £1,200 (equivalent to £89,299 in 2021) a year for life! Due to some circumstances, he was not able to receive it apparently! Not everyone can be rich you see in spite of inventing literally a bomb! Being rich brings to mind Birthday celebrity Mukesh Ambani! Of course he shoots up the stocks rather than bombs which is much better!
Now have a look at your Reliance stocks or Mutual funds and sleep peacefully!
Shubh Ratri!
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