3.3 Four Founders of Modern Rocketry and Astronautics
115
family moved to Boston soon after he was born. As a child, Goddard became interested in science and the parents encouraged him, gifting him a microscope, telescope
and a subscription to the magazine of Scientific American. He grew up so weak and
ill that he was often unable to go to school. Most of the time, he was self-taught
and liked reading wonderful science fictions. Jules Verne’s “From the Earth to the
Moon” and Herbert George Wells’s “The War of the Worlds” made him have a strong
interest in space flight and unlimited imagination, and clear goals for it.
In 1898, Goddard together with his parents moved back to Maple Hill, Worcester.
When his health slowly improved, Goddard attended South High Community School
in Worcester in 1901. Graduating from High School in 1904, he then attended
Worcester Polytechnic Institute to study physics. His fascination with space flight
and means of attaining it continued into his college years. In an assigned theme,
“Traveling in 1950”, he was also intrigued with the notion of the fastest possible
travel for living bodies on the Earth’s surface and projected a plan for travel inside
a steel vacuum tube in which cars were suspended and driven by the attraction and
repulsion of electromagnets. Later, he was granted a patent on a vacuum-tube system
of transport, with the thrust acceleration and deceleration as a chief principle. At the
same time, he also studied the problem of gunpowder rocket and made the experiment of measuring rocket thrust and flight speed. In 1908, he graduated from college
and earned a B.S. degree in physics.
Soon after remaining the college as an instructor, Goddard enrolled at Clark
University in Worcester to study for a master’s degree in physics, where his supervisor
was the famous professor Arthur Gordon Webster, who was the founder of the American Physical Society. Webster was an open-mind scholar who encourages Goddard
to develop his hobbies and strengths, and thus in addition to studying his thesis, he
also considered studies on the related rockets. At this time, Goddard had realized
the defect of low combustion efficiency of gunpowder rocket, and only liquid fuel
to be able to provide the energy required for space flight. In 1910, Goddard earned
an M.S. degree in physics by the thesis titled “Theory of Diffraction”, and a year
later received a Ph.D. degree by the dissertation “On the Conduction of Electricity
at Contacts of Dissimilar Solids”. He remained at Clark University for a year as an
honorary fellow in physics, teaching courses and carrying out rocket experiments.
In 1912, Goddard accepted a research fellowship at Princeton University’s Palmer
Physical Laboratory, where he worked out the mathematics which would allow a
rocket to travel upwards into space, proved that thrust and consequent propulsion
could take place in a vacuum, and investigated the ratios of energy to thrust per weight
of various fuels, including liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Shortly thereafter, he
had tuberculosis and became very ill. As a result, he had to resign from his position
at Princeton University and went back to Worcester to treat his illness. He worked
for an hour a day as his health improved. During this period, he filed two patents:
one is on a multi-stage rocket with solid explosive material as fuel, and another
on a rocket using solid fuel or liquid propellants as fuel. The two patents became
instrumental in the history of developing rockets. In 1914, he accepted a part-time job
at Clark University as a research fellow and instructor and was also able to continue
his research on the rockets. He began to experiment and made significant headway
115
family moved to Boston soon after he was born. As a child, Goddard became interested in science and the parents encouraged him, gifting him a microscope, telescope
and a subscription to the magazine of Scientific American. He grew up so weak and
ill that he was often unable to go to school. Most of the time, he was self-taught
and liked reading wonderful science fictions. Jules Verne’s “From the Earth to the
Moon” and Herbert George Wells’s “The War of the Worlds” made him have a strong
interest in space flight and unlimited imagination, and clear goals for it.
In 1898, Goddard together with his parents moved back to Maple Hill, Worcester.
When his health slowly improved, Goddard attended South High Community School
in Worcester in 1901. Graduating from High School in 1904, he then attended
Worcester Polytechnic Institute to study physics. His fascination with space flight
and means of attaining it continued into his college years. In an assigned theme,
“Traveling in 1950”, he was also intrigued with the notion of the fastest possible
travel for living bodies on the Earth’s surface and projected a plan for travel inside
a steel vacuum tube in which cars were suspended and driven by the attraction and
repulsion of electromagnets. Later, he was granted a patent on a vacuum-tube system
of transport, with the thrust acceleration and deceleration as a chief principle. At the
same time, he also studied the problem of gunpowder rocket and made the experiment of measuring rocket thrust and flight speed. In 1908, he graduated from college
and earned a B.S. degree in physics.
Soon after remaining the college as an instructor, Goddard enrolled at Clark
University in Worcester to study for a master’s degree in physics, where his supervisor
was the famous professor Arthur Gordon Webster, who was the founder of the American Physical Society. Webster was an open-mind scholar who encourages Goddard
to develop his hobbies and strengths, and thus in addition to studying his thesis, he
also considered studies on the related rockets. At this time, Goddard had realized
the defect of low combustion efficiency of gunpowder rocket, and only liquid fuel
to be able to provide the energy required for space flight. In 1910, Goddard earned
an M.S. degree in physics by the thesis titled “Theory of Diffraction”, and a year
later received a Ph.D. degree by the dissertation “On the Conduction of Electricity
at Contacts of Dissimilar Solids”. He remained at Clark University for a year as an
honorary fellow in physics, teaching courses and carrying out rocket experiments.
In 1912, Goddard accepted a research fellowship at Princeton University’s Palmer
Physical Laboratory, where he worked out the mathematics which would allow a
rocket to travel upwards into space, proved that thrust and consequent propulsion
could take place in a vacuum, and investigated the ratios of energy to thrust per weight
of various fuels, including liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Shortly thereafter, he
had tuberculosis and became very ill. As a result, he had to resign from his position
at Princeton University and went back to Worcester to treat his illness. He worked
for an hour a day as his health improved. During this period, he filed two patents:
one is on a multi-stage rocket with solid explosive material as fuel, and another
on a rocket using solid fuel or liquid propellants as fuel. The two patents became
instrumental in the history of developing rockets. In 1914, he accepted a part-time job
at Clark University as a research fellow and instructor and was also able to continue
his research on the rockets. He began to experiment and made significant headway