The first technical discoveries are related to the name of Faust Vrancic (lat. Faustus Verantius, italianized name Fausto Veranzio, hungarized name Faustus Verancsics, 1551-1617). It is known that he collaborated with Tycho Brache and Johannes Keppler. Vrancic was fluent in at least seven languages. At the court of King Rudolph II in Hradcani in Prague (Rudolph II was Roman-German Emperor and Croatian-Hungarian King) he worked as his secretary, and in that period completed his important dictionary of five most noble European languages (Dictionarium quinque nobilissimarum Europeae linguarum: Latinae, Italicae, Germanicae, Dalmaticae et Hungaricae) and published in Venice in 1595. 

Faust Vrancic (1551-1617), distinguished Croatian inventor and encyclopaedist, is burried upon his last wish, 
on the island of Prvic near the city of Sibenik on Croatian coast.

He is best known for his book of inventions in Machinae Novae, published also in Venice in 1595. The book was financially supported by the French King Louis XIII, and the Toscan Duke Cosimo II de Medici. Among his numerous inventions the most famous is the parachute, which he tested in Venice. It is true that Leonardo da Vinci had a similar idea earlier, but he made only a rough sketch of it, of pyramidal shape, while Vranic’s parachute had rectangular shape, as today.

Vrancic also constructed a mill driven by tides, ropeway, gave a new construction of metal bridges (suspended by iron chains, i.e. suspension bridges), described in his famous book on mechanics Machinae novae (61 constructions, Venice, 1595). It was not until the late 18th century, that is, two centuries later, that such bridges were built. The book was soon translated from Latin into Italian, Spanish, French and German. A sketch of his well known Homo volans (parachutist) appearing in Machinae novae is often attributed to Leonardo in the literature, which is wrong. Vrancic was the Chancellor of king Rudolph II for Hungary and Transylvania.

See Faust Vrancic (by dr. Vladimir Muljevic, in Croatian) For example, the famous Verrazzano Narrows Bridge is the largest suspension bridge in the USA (New York, 1298 m), see also Historical Develpment of Iron and Steel in Bridges.

Vrancic also described in his book Machinae Novae the first wind turbine:

Vrancic’s Machinae Novae, 1595, was reprinted

• in 1965 by “Heinz Moos Verlag”, Munich, Germany (F. Klein, A. Wisner), translated into five languages,
• in 1968 by “Ferro”, Milano, Italy (Umberto Forti), in Italian
• in 1985 by “Magveto”, Budapest, Hungary, in Hungarian,
• in 1993 by “Novi Liber”, Zagreb, Croatia (Vladimir Muljevic, Zarko Dadic), in Latin and Croatian (from the introduction: “…This book is issued in dramatic time for Sibenik and its environs, for Dalmatia, and the whole of Croatia [that is, issued during Greater Serbian 1991-1995 aggression on Croatia]. The aim and importance of this book should be close and clear to any civilized person: it radiates with Renaissance spirit of activism and optimism that we also wish to develop in our time, despite all misfortune brought to us by imposed war…”)

For more information see

• Gojko Nikolić: Nove spoznaje o životu i izumima Fausta Vrančića, Povijest i filozofija tehnike, Zagreb 2017. Zvonko Benčić i Josip Moser (eds.), ISBN 978-953-7992-06-4, pp. 38-65.
  
• Vladimir Muljević: Hrvatski znanstvenici Faust i Antun Vrančić, Encyclopaedia Moderna, 2(42) (1993), pp. 122-136.

Faust Vrancic 1551-1617 Memorial Center on the island of Prvic near the town of Sibenik in Croatia