Goddard, Robert Hutchings (1882-1945) | Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections

Name: Goddard, Robert Hutchings (1882-1945)

Historical Note: <a name="BiographicalInfoEssay"></a>Robert Hutchings Goddard was born on October 5, 1882, in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Nahum Danford Goddard and Fannie Louise Hoyt Goddard.  Robert H. Goddard was one of the foremost pioneers in the field of rocket research and the theory of space flight.  Alone among the first generation of rocket and space pioneers, he not only contributed to space flight theory but also engaged over most of his adult life in the actual development of rockets.  As a result, he is credited with launching the world's first liquid-propellant rocket.  He developed and patented a large number of innovations in rocket technology that were later used in the much larger rockets and missiles employed by the Germans during World War II and, thereafter, by the United States' and Soviet Union's missile and space programs, among others.  Paradoxically, Goddard's influence upon modern rocketry was not as great as it would have been had he been less a solitary inventor and more inclined to publish his findings in scientific journals and elsewhere.

Sources: "Robert H. Goddard." Notable Scientists: From 1900 to the Present. Gale Group, 2001.

Records or Manuscript Collections Created by Goddard, Robert Hutchings