Profile of the Day: Robert H. Goddard

“It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.”

On this day in 1882, rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Dubbed the “father of modern rocketry,” Goddard is credited with creating, building, and launching the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket. It was his groundbreaking work that helped make spaceflight possible.

Image: Robert H. Goddard / NASA

Goddard was the only surviving child of Nahum Danford Goddard, a farmer, and Fannie Louise Hoyt. As a child, Goddard was always fascinated with science and flight. However, it was after reading H.G. Wells’s novel, The War of the Worlds, that he developed a keen interest in space. He would later devote his work in the pursuit of spaceflight.

Although his work would be critical to the future of space exploration, Goddard received very little public support. Ahead of his time, he was ridiculed in the press for his proposal that rockets could potentially reach the moon. It wasn’t until the dawn of the Space Age that his work was finally recognized.

Goddard died on August 10, 1945 at the age of 62.

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