Robert Goddard | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Class of 1908 and 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.

In 1926, Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket.

The pen President Johnson used to sign the law on March 16, 1965 recognizing Robert Goddard's contribution to modern rocketry.

Chronological History of the Career of Robert H.Goddard

DATE	EVENT
1882	Born at Maple Hill, Worcester, Massachusetts
1883	Moved with family to Boston, Massachusetts
1898	Moved with family to Maple Hill, Worcester, Massachusetts
1904-1908	Student, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (B.S. in 1908)
1908-1909	Faculty, Dept. of Physics, WPI, and special student in Physics, Clark University
1909-1911	Fellow in Physics, Clark University (A.M. 1910, Ph.D. 1911)
1911-1912, 1914-1915, 1918-1920	Honorary Fellow in Physics, Clark University
1912-1913	Research instructor in Physics, Princeton University
1914, July	Awarded first two patents for a rocket apparatus: A Liquid Fuel Gun Rocket, and a Multistage Step Rocket.
1917, January 5	Received first financial assistance from the Smithsonian Institution
1920-1923	Part-time consultant on solid propellant rocket weapons for U.S. government at Indian Head, Maryland
1923-1943	Director of Physical Laboratories, Clark University
1924, June 21	Married Esther Christine Kisk
1926, March 16	First to develop and launch a liquid-propellant rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
1930, July 10 -1932	First two-year grant from Daniel Guggenheim, began conducting full-time rocket research at Roswell, New Mexico (on leave of absence from Clark University)
1942-1945	Director of Research, Navy Dept., Bureau of Aeronautics developing jet-assisted takeoff and variable thrust liquid propellant rockets, at Roswell, New Mexico and Annapolis Maryland
1943-1945	Consulting Engineer, Curtiss-Wright Corporation, Caldwell, New Jersey
1944-1945	Director, American Rocket Society
1945, June 2	Received honorary Doctor of Science degree, Clark University
1945, August 10	Died at Baltimore, Maryland. Buried at Hope Cemetery, Worcester, Massachusetts

Chronological History of the Scientific Accomplishments of Robert H.Goddard

DATE	EVENT
1912	First explored mathematically the practicality of using rocket power to reach high altitudes and escape velocity
1915	First proved experimentally that a rocket will provide thrust in a vacuum
1917-1918	Developed the basis for the rocket weapon, The Bazooka, done for U.S. Army Signal Corps and Ordinance Department, in the Magnetic Lab (now Skull Tomb) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, at Clark University, and later at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California
1919	Published "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes," in Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol.71, No. 2, a basic mathematical theory underlying rocket propulsion
1920-1925	First to develop a rocket motor using liquid propellants
1925	Liquid-propellant rocket lifted its own weight for first time
1926, March 16	First to develop and launch a liquid-propellant rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts
1929, July 17	Tested first rocket containing instruments in Auburn, Massachusetts
1932	First developed gyro stabilization apparatus for rockets
1932	Used deflector vanes in the blast of the rocket motor as a method of stabilizing and guiding rockets
1934-1942	"A" series rocket tests (14-test series; rockets at this stage were about 15 feet long)
1935, March 8	First to launch a liquid propellant rocket which attained a speed greater than that of sound (700 m.p.h.)
1935	Rocket reached altitude of 7500 feet
1936, March 16	Publication of "Liquid Propellant Rocket Development," Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 95, No. 3
1936-1938	"L" series rocket tests (30-test series; rockets were about 18 feet long)
1937	Rocket reached height of 9000 feet
1938-1941	"P" series rocket tests (This 36-test series represents his last flight rockets. Rockets averaged about 22 feet in length)