This book is an outgrowth of a previous handbook article on the history of shock waves. While preparing the manuscript for this handbook, it quickly became apparent that this field of enormous breadth could not be adequately treated without also including the evolution of research into percussion and explosion. Since the limited space available in the handbook confined the historical perspectives to a rather limited period of time (1759–1945), the author conceived the idea of providing readers interested in history with a more detailed description of this complex field of physics and engineering, in particular by (i) covering the period beginning from prehistoric to present times; (ii) including biographical sketches of eminent researchers; and (iii) illustrating the milestones using a picture gallery of authentic illustrations. A nine-year study of a large body of original literature brought to light many interesting historical facts which might be unknown in the shock wave physicsand detonics community, and which have apparently never been reviewed in a wider context before. History, in general, is understood as being
