American engineer Robert H Goddard pioneered the use of liquid- propellant rockets and advocated their use for space travel. He was born on October 5, 1882, at Worcester, Massachusetts. As he grew up,his imagination was stimulated by a new genre of novel that was becoming increasingly popular, thanks particularly to two writers, Jules Verne in France and H G Wells in England. The stories, about such things as people travelling to the Moon and invaders from Mars, were pioneering works of science fiction. The young Goddard developed a passionate interest in rockets that remained with him until his death. By 1914, Dr Goddard as he was then, was teaching physics at Clark University in Worcester. He already had several patents to his credit relating to rocket motors. During World War 2 he worked on military rockets before resuming his teaching and research at Clark. In 1919 Goddard wrote a paper for the Smithsonian Institution entitled 'A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes'.
The paper set down his advanced thinking about rockets and voiced the possibility of using rockets for reaching the Moon. The popular press ridiculed him for this, labelling him 'Moon man'. This made him fight shy of publicity for the rest of his life. Accordingly, few people at the time knew about his work in developing the liquid-propellant rocket. He began investigating this type of rocket in 1924. Two years later, on March 16, 1926, at Auburn, near Worcester, he was ready to fire one. The rocket used petrol (gasoline) and liquid oxygen as propellants. The firing was completely successful. Goddard saw his device, the world's first liquid-propellant rocket, rise some 12 metres in the air and travel nearly 60 metres in a flight of 21 seconds. He subsequently received funding to continue rocket development, and in 1930 set up a test range near Roswell, New Mexico, where he spent most of his time until 1941. By then his rockets could reach heights of nearly 3 km.
During World War 2 Goddard again worked for the military, on such things as jet- assisted take-off for flying boats. He died on August 10, 1945.
