Hasan al-Rammah (
Arabic: حسن الرماح, died 1295) was a
Syrian[1][2][3]Arab[4]chemist and
engineer during the
Mamluk Sultanate who studied
gunpowders and
explosives, and sketched prototype instruments of warfare, including the first
torpedo.[5] Al-Rammah called his early torpedo "an egg which moves itself and burns." It was made of two sheet-pans of metal fastened together and filled with
naphtha, metal filings, and
potassium nitrate. It was intended to move across the surface of the water, propelled by a large rocket and kept on course by a small rudder.[6]
Al-Rammah devised several new types of gunpowder[7] and a new type of fuse and two types of lighters.[6]