Happy Birthday Robert Goddard

Sometimes known as the father of modern rocketry, Robert Goddard was born on this date in 1882 to Nahum Danford Goddard, a businessman, and Fannie Hoyt Goddard.

He first drew attention while a student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts when he experimented on a rocket powered by gunpowder in the basement of the physics building. Clouds of smoke caused a lot of commotion and the faculty, rather than expel him, took an interest in his work.

Robert Goddard died on Aug. 10, 1945, holding 214 patents in rocketry but having received little attention for his propulsion research. When American rocket scientists began to earnestly prepare for space exploration, they discovered it was almost impossible to build a rocket or launch a satellite without acknowledging the work of Goddard.

Check out our Robert Goddard Pictures Gallery

Also, pay a visit to the NASA facility that bears his name: Goddard Space Flight Center