File:Dr. Robert H. Goddard - GPN-2002-000131.jpg

Dr. Goddard has been recognized as the father of American rocketry and as one of the pioneers in the theoretical exploration of space. Robert Hutchings Goddard, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on October 5, 1882, was theoretical scientist, as well as a practical engineer. His dream was the conquest of the upper atmosphere and ultimately space through the use of rocket propulsion. Dr. Goddard, died in 1945, but was likely as responsible for the dawning of the Space Age as the Wright brothers were for the beginning of the Air Age. Yet his work attracted little serious attention during his lifetime. However, when the United States began to prepare for the conquest of space in the 1950's, American rocket scientists began to recognize the debt owed to the New England professor. They discovered that it was virtually impossible to construct a rocket or launch a satellite without acknowledging the work of Dr. Goddard. More than 200 patents, many of which were issued after his death, covered this great legacy.