Editing Benjamin Robins (section)

==Scientific gunnery==
[[File:Benjamin Robins.png|thumb]]
In particular he carried out an extensive series of experiments in gunnery, embodying his results in his famous treatise on ''New Principles of Gunnery'' (1742),<ref>{{cite web | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3j8FAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1 | title  = New Principles of Gunnery: Containing the Determination of the Force of Gun-powder, and an Investigation of the Difference in the Resisting Power of the Air to Swift and Slow Motions. With Several Other Tracts on the Improvement of Practical Gunnery | first1 = Benjamin | last1  = Robins |  date = 1742}}</ref> which contains a description of his [[ballistic pendulum]] (see [[gun chronograph|chronograph]]).<ref name="EB1911"/>

Robins also made a number of important experiments on the resistance of the air to the motion of projectiles,<ref>
 {{cite web | url = http://www.aviationearth.com/aircraft-theory/wind-tunnel/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100906073554/http://www.aviationearth.com/aircraft-theory/wind-tunnel/ | archive-date=6 September 2010| title = Wind Tunnel : Planes, Flying and Aviation | author = Staff writer | work = Aviation Earth | date = 2009 | quote = English military Engineer and mathematician Benjamin Robins (1707–1751) invented a whirling arm apparatus to determine drag and did some of the first experiments in aviation theory. | access-date = 7 March 2016}}</ref><ref>[http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/WindTunnel/history.html "Wind Tunnels of NASA"], Donald D. Baals and William R. Corliss</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Steele | first = Brett | title = Muskets and Pendulums: Benjamin Robins, Leonhard Euler, and the Ballistics Revolution | publisher=[[The Johns Hopkins University Press]] | location = Baltimore |date=April 1994 | volume = 35 | pages = 348–382 | issn = 0040-165X | jstor = 3106305 | issue = 2 | journal=Technology and Culture | doi=10.2307/3106305}}</ref> and on the force of [[gunpowder]], with computation of the velocities thereby communicated to projectiles. He compared the results of his theory with experimental determinations of the ranges of mortars and cannon, and gave practical maxims for the management of [[artillery]]. He also made observations on the flight of [[rocket]]s, and wrote on the advantages of rifled gun barrels. His work on gunnery was translated into German by [[Leonhard Euler]], who added a critical commentary of his own.<ref name="EB1911"/> However, the work of Robins still served as an important piece of technical information that helped the later advancement of the Prussian artillery, especially of its improvement in accuracy, a big step forwards that the book turned out to be a shot in the arm of the ambitious [[Frederick the Great]] who determined to vault the status and power of Prussian artillery to the top among other European armies.