Goddard, Robert Hutchings

American Inventor and Educator 1882-1945

Robert Hutchings Goddard was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on October 5, 1882. After reading science fiction as a boy, Goddard became excited about exploring space. He pioneered modern rocketry in the United States and founded a field of science and engineering. Goddard received a Ph.D. from Worcester Technical University in 1911 and joined the faculty at Clark University.

As a physics graduate student, Goddard conducted static tests with small solid-fuel rockets, and in 1912 he developed the mathematical theory of rocket propulsion. In 1916 the Smithsonian Institution provided funds for his work on rockets and in 1919 published his research as "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes." Goddard argued that rockets could be used to explore the upper atmosphere and suggested that with a velocity of 11.18 kilometers per second (6.95 miles/second), without air resistance, an object could escape Earth's gravity and head into infinity or to the Moon or other celestial bodies. This became known as Earth's escape velocity.

Goddard's ideas were ridiculed by some in the popular press, prompting him to become secretive about his work. However, he continued his research, and on March 16, 1926, Goddard launched his first liquid-fueled rocket, an event that heralded modern rocketry. On July 17, 1929, he flew the first instrumented payload, consisting of an aneroid barometer, a thermometer, and a camera. This was the first instrument-carrying rocket. After rising about 27 meters (90 feet), the rocket turned and struck the ground 52 meters (171 feet) away, causing a large fire.

Charles A. Lindbergh^* visited Goddard and was sufficiently impressed to persuade philanthropist Daniel Guggenheim to award Goddard a grant of $50,000, with which Goddard set up an experiment station near Roswell, New Mexico. From 1930 to 1941 Goddard launched rockets of ever-greater complexity and capability. The culmination of this effort was the launch of a rocket to an altitude of 2,743 meters (9,000 feet) in 1941. Late in 1941 Goddard entered naval service and spent the duration of World War II developing a jet-assisted takeoff rocket to shorten the distance required for heavy aircraft launches. This work led to the development of the throttlable Curtiss-Wright XLR25-CW-1 rocket engine that later powered the Bell X-1 and helped overcome the transonic barrier in 1947. Goddard died in Baltimore on August 10, 1945.

SEE ALSO CAREERS IN ROCKETRY (VOLUME 1); ROCKET ENGINES (VOLUME 1); ROCKETS (VOLUME 3).

Roger D. Launius

Bibliography

Goddard, Esther C., ed., and G. Edward Pendray, associate ed. The Papers of Robert H. Goddard. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970.

Lehman, Milton. This High Man. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1963.

Winter, Frank H. Prelude to the Space Age: The Rocket Societies, 1924-1940. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983.

^*In 1927 Charles A. Lindbergh became the first pilot to make a non-stop solo flight from New York to Paris.