Konstantin Eduardovich TsiolkovskyBorn 17 Sep 1857; died 19 Sep 1935 at age 78. Russian pioneer space theorist who, while a provincial Russian schoolteacher, worked out many of the principles of space travel. In 1883, he noted that a vehicle in space would travel in the opposite direction to gas that it emitted, and was the first to seriously propose this method propulsion in space travel. He wrote various papers, including the 1903 article “Exploration of Space with Reactive Devices.” The engineering equations he derived included parameters such as specific impulse, thrust coefficient and area ratio. He established that the most efficient chemical combination would be that of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. He was later recognized by the Soviet Union as the “father of cosmonautics.” He also built the first wind tunnel.« |
