Dr. Robert H. Goddard
The history books tell us that one man is the father of modern space flight and rocketry. He has museums, planetariums and a NASA space flight center named after him. He has exhibits about him in dozens of other museums including the Smithsonian Institute. However, Robert Goddard never wanted to be famous. The boy who grew up on a farm in Massachusetts loved science and dreamed of finding a way to reach the moon. Many people thought he was crazy. In 1920 when he first proposed reaching the moon airplanes were only 20 years old. Most people did not have cars and many did not have electricity or running water in their house. It was far beyond their imagination to even dream of reaching the moon, but Robert was not going to let that stop him.
When Robert Goddard was little he was often sick and could not go to school so he spent a lot of time reading. Some of his favorite books were about science and science fiction. His parents encouraged his curiosity and even bought him science equipment like a microscope and telescope. He became obsessed with fireworks and flight and did a lot of experiments using balloons, kites and fireworks. By the time he reached the age for high school his health had improved and he got to go to school. He graduated at the top of his class and went on to college to get a PHD degree in physics. By the time he got his PHD Robert Goddard was convinced that with the right vehicle and the right fuel man could reach the moon and he set a goal for himself to prove that to the world. His biggest obstacle would be convincing people that he was not insane.
In 1916 Goddard wrote a letter to the Smithsonian Institute hoping to get some help. His experiments were expensive and he did not make much money as a college professor. To his surprise the Smithsonian granted him $5,000.00. As he kept doing more experimentation and the size of the rockets he was launching got bigger Goddard decided he needed more room to launch so he moved to Roswell, New Mexico.
Robert Goddard’s first patent was one of his most important. That was the multi-stage liquid fueled rocket system. This was the system he continued to test and perfect for the rest of his life. It is also the system of propelling a rocket that is still used to this day. In his lifetime he registered a total of 214 patents, most had to do with rockets. Fun fact: During WWII Robert Goddard developed a rocket propelled system for the United States Navy that would launch airplanes from the deck of a ship.