Tipu
Sultan also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore.
He was the eldest son of Sultan Haidar Ali of Mysore. Being illiterate, Hyder
was very particular in giving his eldest son good education and also an early
exposure to military and political affairs. From the age of 17 Tipu was given
independent charge of important diplomatic and military missions. He was his
father's right arm in the wars due to which Hyder emerged as the most powerful
ruler of southern India.
At
age 15 years, he accompanied his father against the British in the First Mysore
War in 1766. He commanded a corps of cavalry in the invasion of Carnatic in
1767 at age 16. He also distinguished himself in the First Anglo-Maratha War to
Forth Anglo Maratha War. His early education and military training gave an
insight into the Rocket Science. It was
before experimented by Hyder Ali, when he commanded a rocket platoon of 50 in
the army of the Nawab of Arcot, before coming to Mysore and seizing power from
the Wodeyars dynasty.
Roddam
a famous historian analyzed Tipu and Hyder Ali's major contributions to
rocketry. He noted that they used metal casing for the rockets, instead of the
then prevalent bamboo and paper casings. Such metal rockets could travel up to
2 Kilometers, a huge increase in its range and had also greater carrying
capacity.
Later,
Tipu, allowed them to use sword blades tied to the rockets, and to stabilize
their flight, much in the same way we use a long stick in our Diwali rockets.
Such swords also served as dangerous weapons, when they landed among the enemy
soldiers. Such rockets were particularly useful against massed cavalry and
infantry charges. Tipu had built a huge number of rockets and used massed
rocket attacks in his battles against the British. In Tipu's 1780 battle in
Pollilur (Second Anglo Mysore War), such rocket attacks played a key role in
the defeating British.
For
the British too this Rocket science was new and Tipu Sultan thus became the
sore enemy of the British. On the other hand Tipu strengthen his relations with
the French. In order to support French’s national movement, he joined Jacobian
club and planted a tree of liberty at his capital Seringapatam.
After Tipu's defeat in the 4th Anglo
Mysore War, the British carried away a large number of unused rockets to
England, where William Congreve subjected them to a scientific study. Congreve
then headed the Royal Laboratory at Woolwich Arsenal (the original home of the
Arsenal Football Club). He found that the Mysore rockets had much greater range
than any found in Europe. It was Congreve's research – reverse engineering as
we would call it today -- and further development that lead to the use of
rockets by the British against the French in the Napoleonic wars, and later
against the Americans. Two such rockets that were carried back by the British
from Seringapatam, are on display in the Royal Artillery Museum in Woolwich.
Later, the scientists from NASA too did
a lot of research on Rocket science of Tipu. With the help of advance science
and technology, they were able to master this science. Even today in the painting of Tipu’s army using
rockets is at the Wallops Flights Facility at
Wallops Island in East coast, Virginia. This place was the base for NASA's sounding
rocket program.
Dr APJ Abul Kalam once said after
visiting NASA that “Here I saw a painting prominently displayed in the
reception lobby. It depicted a battle scene with a few rockets flying in the
background. A painting with this theme should be the most common place thing at
a flight facility, but the painting caught my eye, because the soldiers on the
side launching the rockets were not white but were dark skinned, with racial
features found in South Asia. It turned out to be Tipu Sultans army fighting
the British. The painting depicted a fact forgotten in Tipu's own country but
commemorated here on the other side of the planet”.
https://www.thetajtours.com/important-lessons-nasa-scientists-learned-from-tipu-sultan/
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