Robert Goddard
Class of 1908
Father of Modern Rocketry
Robert Goddard, often called the "Father of Modern Rocketry,"
graduated from WPI in 1908, a general science major. Even as an
undergraduate student, Goddard dreamed of space flight, submitting an
article, "Possibility of Investigating Interplanetary Space," to
Scientific American in 1907. Also while an undergraduate, Goddard
published an article in the WPI Journal, which at the time was devoted
to technical literature. The article dealt with the use of the
gyroscope in balancing and steering airplanes.
Despite his scientific interests, Goddard seems to have been
popular among classmates, being elected class vice president and
president and serving as editor of the class yearbook.
After graduation, Goddard served on WPI's Physics Department faculty
for two years, and then did advanced study at Clark University.
During this time, he continued to use WPI facilities for his
experiments. Legend has it that while using a lab in Salisbury,
explosions caused some damage and he was then moved to the Magnetic
Lab (now Skull Tomb). Even here, neighbors complained of hearing loud
noises.
Goddard went on to lay the foundations for the development of long
range rockets, missiles, satellites and spaceflight. He was the first
to use liquid propellants as rocket fuel, with the first successful launch of a
liquid-fueled rocket from Auburn, Massachusetts, March 16, 1926.
After his teaching career at Clark ended in 1934, Goddard worked for
the U.S. government on rocket research until his death in 1945. More
information on his life is found in the chronology section.
This exhibit shows images from Goddard's connections with WPI. More on Goddard’s WPI connections can be found at this site.
Life and Work:
Other Goddard sites on the Web
Maintained by lib-webmaster@wpi.edu
Last modified: Aug 19, 2008, 10:14 EDT
