Franz von Uchatius
Franz von Uchatius (1811-1881) was an Austrian artillery general and inventor. His inventions included both military applications and pioneer work in cinematography.
He invented a motion picture projector in the early 1850s[1], developing it over the years from 1845[2] from the device then called stroboscope (Simon von Stampfer)[3] and phenakistiscope (Joseph Plateau)[4]. This was the first example of projected animation[5], demonstrated in 1853[6]; it is also described as the combination of the zoetrope with the magic lantern[7]. It was called the kinetoscope[8], a term later used by Thomas Edison (see kinetoscope). He applied it to lecture on ballistics[9].
He worked also on a smokeless powder[10], improved cannons and alloys (his steel bronze was a copper-tin alloy[11]), and a balloon bomb, used in 1849 against Venice[12], sent up from a paddle steamer[13]. Uchatius steel was produced industrially, by mixing granulated iron with iron oxide[14].