The essay tells about the scientific, pedagogical and engineering activities of the outstanding Russian inventor Vasily Fomich Petrushevsky, who developed a method for the practical use of nitroglycerin in explosives and discovered Russian magnesia dynamite (Petrushevsky dynamite) in 1866. On the initiative and under the leadership of Vasily Fomich Petrushevsky in the second half of the XIX century. the introduction of electrical engineering in military and maritime affairs began. He developed original designs for underwater mines, explosives, electric lighting devices and first rangefinders.