More famous in his day than Einstein or Edison, the troubled, solitary genius Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945) was the American father of rocketry and space flight, launching the world's first liquid-fuel rockets and the first powered vehicles to break the sound barrier. Supported by Charles Lindbergh and Harry Guggenheim, through fiery, often explosive, experiments at Roswell, New Mexico, he invented the methods that carried men to the moon. Today, no rocket or jet plane can fly without using his inventions. Yet he is the "forgotten man" of the space age. His own government ignored his rocketry until the Germans demonstrated its principles in the V-2 missiles of World War II. The American government usurped his 214 patents, while suppressing his contributions in the name of national security, until it was forced to pay one million dollars for patent infringement. Goddard became famous again, monuments and medals raining upon his memory. But his renewed fame soon faded, and Goddard's pivotal role in launching the Space Age has been largely forgotten.

Author: David a. Clary
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 08/11/2004
Pages: 352
Weight: 1lbs
Size: 8.92h x 5.78w x 0.85d
ISBN: 9780786887057
Revised Edition
Audience: Young Adult


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 12/01/2004 pg. 633

About the Author
David A. Clary, former chief historian of the U.S. Forest Service, is the author of numerous books and other publications on military and scientific history. He has served as consultant to several government agencies and teaches history at Eastern New Mexico University at Roswell, where he resides.