First used for battle in China in about 900 A.D., gunpowder spread throughout Eurasia by the end of the 13th century, eventually revolutionizing warfare as a propellant in firearms and artillery.

An interdisciplinary team of chemists and historians wanted to learn more about how various recipes for gunpowder evolved over the centuries as master gunners tweaked the basic components to ...

Now a group of experts at the US Army Military Academy at West Point has re-created these medieval recipes and tested the craft gunpowder in a replica cannon. They found that early gunpowder took ...