Robert Goddard
                     Robert 
Goddard
Introduction
Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882-1945) 
is considered the father of modern rocket 
propulsion. A physicist of great insight, 
Goddard also had a unique genius for 
invention
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Birth
It is in memory of this brilliant scientist 
that NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center 
in Greenbelt, Maryland, was established on 
May 1, 1959.
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First Rocket
By 1926, Goddard had constructed and 
successfully tested the first rocket using 
liquid fuel. 
Indeed, the flight of Goddard’s rocket on 
March 16, 1926, at Auburn, Massachusetts, 
was as significant to history as that of the 
Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk.
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Research and Testing
Primitive in their day as the achievement of 
the Wrights, Goddard’s rockets made little 
impression on government officials. 
Only through modest subsidies from the 
Smithsonian Institution and the Daniel 
Guggenheim Foundation, as well as the 
leaves of absence granted him by the 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute of Clark 
University, was Goddard able to sustain his 
lifetime of devoted research and testing.
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At School
Goddard first obtained public notice in 1907 
in a cloud of smoke from a powder rocket 
fired in the basement of the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute physics building.
School officials took an immediate interest in 
the work of student Goddard. The school’s 
administration, to their credit, did not expel 
him. He thus began his lifetime of dedicated 
work.
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U.S. patents
In 1914, Goddard received two U.S. 
patents. One was for a rocket using liquid 
fuel. The other was for a two- or three-
stage rocket using solid fuel.
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Classic Document
At his own expense, he began to make 
systematic studies about propulsion 
provided by various types of gunpowder. 
His classic document was a study he wrote 
in 1916 requesting funds from the 
Smithsonian Institution so that he could 
continue his research.
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Possibility of a rocket 
reaching the moon
Toward the end of his 1920 report, Goddard 
outlined the possibility of a rocket reaching 
the moon and exploding a load of flash 
powder there to mark its arrival. 
The bulk of his scientific report to the 
Smithsonian was a dry explanation of how 
he used the $5,000 grant in his research. 
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Journalistic controversy
The press picked up Goddard’s scientific 
proposal about a rocket flight to the moon, 
however, and created a journalistic 
controversy concerning the feasibility of 
such a thing. 
The resulting ridicule created in Goddard 
firm convictions about the nature of the 
press corps, which he held for the rest of 
his life.
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Death
Robert H. Goddard died on Aug. 10, 1945. 
Following the rocketry pioneer's death, his 
widow, Esther Goddard, championed his 
work. 
On Sept. 16, 1959, the 86th Congress 
authorized the issuance of a gold medal in 
the honor of professor Robert H. Goddard. 
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