Robert Goddard (1882-1945)
On October 5, 1882 Robert Goddard was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. As he grew, he was enthralled in science fiction books, primarily “War of the Worlds” by H.G. Wells and “From the Earth to the Moon” by Jules Verne. When in high school, he submitted an article about the possibility of rocket propelled space travel, to which at the time brought much commotion in the science community. After writing the theory, he began to think of different ways to make his theory a reality and so he began to design the elements for space travel. After Goddard graduated from high school in 1908, he went to study physics at Clark University in Worcester. Three years later, he gained a doctorate in physics and then began teaching physics there. In 1914, Goddard received two U.S. patents for the use of rockets using liquid fuel and the other was for two or three stage rocket that could only use solid fuel. Two years later, he began work on studies of propulsion which interested the Smithsonian Museum. They had him write an article about his studies for their magazine and, because of the popularity of the article, he received a 10,000 dollar grant from the Museum.
The money that he gained from this he used for research to go more in depth about the technical qualities of German V12 missiles during World War I. Again, in World War II, he joined the U.S. Navy to design a jet that had rockets that were powered by liquid fuel to increase the thrust of the entire motor. With this said, he was a reliable asset to the U.S. military during of these wars. Unfortunately, Robert Goddard died from a long battle with laryngeal cancer on August 10, 1945.
The money that he gained from this he used for research to go more in depth about the technical qualities of German V12 missiles during World War I. Again, in World War II, he joined the U.S. Navy to design a jet that had rockets that were powered by liquid fuel to increase the thrust of the entire motor. With this said, he was a reliable asset to the U.S. military during of these wars. Unfortunately, Robert Goddard died from a long battle with laryngeal cancer on August 10, 1945.