Sebastián Fernández de Medrano

Sebastián Fernández de Medrano (24 October 1646 – 18 February 1705) was a Spanish military leader, engineer, polymath, professor, military leader, and scholar who served as the president and sole-director of the Royal Military and Mathematics Academy of Brussels, considered the first modern military academy in Europe. Active during the reign of Charles II of Spain and briefly Philip V, Medrano held numerous titles throughout his career, including Royal Master of Mathematics in the States of Flanders, General Prefect to the King, Captain and Maestre de Campo of the Spanish Tercio, General of Artillery, Chief Artillery Engineer of the Kingdom, geographer, cartographer, inventor, author, and military architect. He played a foundational role in the development of Spanish military science and education during the late 17th century.

He is best known for founding and directing the Royal Military and Mathematics Academy of Brussels (1675–1706), the first modern military academy in Europe, which trained a generation of elite engineers and officers who shaped warfare across Spain and the Habsburg world.

He died in Brussels on 18 February 1705 and was buried in the convent of the Discalced Carmelites. The convent was suppressed after the French Revolution and its buildings were converted into a prison, as a result of which Fernández de Medrano's tomb has been lost. On the former site of the convent, the Prince Albert Barracks were later constructed, now the headquarters of the Prince Albert Military Club of the Belgian Army.