64. ROBERT H. GODDARD: The rocket man
Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945) was an American physicist, engineer and the father of modern rocketry. He built the first liquid-fuelled rocket and his work was directly responsible for spaceflight. The story goes like this: As a 17-year-old boy in 1899, Goddard had a life-changing experience when he climbed a cherry tree, looked up at the stars and decided he would try to build a vehicle that could reach space, specifically Mars. From that day, Goddard dedicated his life to achieving his crazy goal and celebrated that day every year as his ‘Anniversary Day’ – the day his life found its purpose.
Goddard went on to study physics, engineering and aerodynamics and spent the rest of his life calculating formula, researching data and painstakingly testing his designs. After Goddard published his most important paper in 1919, which stated the science behind his rockets and his belief that they could be used to explore space, he received harsh criticism from the press who thought his claims were a joke. After years of this type of criticism, Goddard escaped into his work, becoming more reclusive and eventually relocated to New Mexico where he could work in peace. By the time of his death in 1945, the highest altitude one of his rockets reached was a fairly modest 2.7kms, but he had filed over 200 engineering patents and laid the groundwork for all of today’s rocket engines.
What an amazing man – this guy dedicated his entire life to a goal that he knew would never be achieved in his lifetime, made him look like a fool to the general public and a pariah to his colleagues. Yet his dream and conviction was so strong that he just kept working away at a thankless endeavour, never letting what other people said break his spirits.
You can watch a nice five-minute biography of Goddard in Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. Click here, it starts at the 17min mark.
- Thank you to Libby for submitting this quote.
- A reader pointed out that Wernher von Braun also deserves major props for developing the rocket.
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Another lovely comic. I’d heard of Robert Goddard, but I’d never really looked into his life story.
There’s a stray apostrophe in one of the newspaper headlines.
Thanks Nick, I fixed the error
Awesome.
Nice one! Needed this because I’m taking the Bar in a week. By the way, I think you meant to say “A severe strain on credulity” in the newspaper.
Fixed that too – sigh, I left my brain in bed today
Hey Gav,
you’re getting soo much better – especially luv the “past look” in this one – it’s a cool atmo.
And the last perspective with the astronaut’s foot – man, just epic, just epic man
So true!!!
The color-filtered look of the past,
the way the grave gets a lighting treatment (from the shuttle’s launch)
and the climax of the whole thing…
Gav!!! AMAZINGGGG!!! You ROCK, man!!
Thanks dudes
Hope everything went well with the Bar.
From a retiring Attorney.
This seems to be what his grave stone really looks like, at least now:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=398&PIpi=82112
Your profile picture looks like a Nazi Dwight Schrute
Wow, there’s a website for everything
You’ve gotten me, again. Keep this up please, you are great!
Gorgeous!
It reminds me of two things (and could even have been the basis of them):
‘Moonwatcher’ at the start of Arthur C. Clarke’s novelisation of 2001.
A scene from the first volume of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, where Morpheus has descended into Hell to re-claim his helm via a shape shifting duel with the demon Churizon. Churizon makes a seemingly unbeatable move when he portrays himself as the heat death of the Universe, only to be trumped by the DreamKing proclaiming himself as Hope. The logic behind that move mirrors what Goddard’s saying.
@Gav, you were saying a while back you were going a bit stir crazy in your room. I mentioned @HubMelbourne as a possible solution. I don’t know if it’s for you, but they’re looking for new members at the moment, and would welcome a creative type like you with open arms! Open day is Thursdays 11:30 (with lunch!), or Friday at 4pm. The only down side is that the lift is being repaired, and the space is on the fourth floor! Here endeth the pitch.
Thanks Tony, no it wasn’t inspired by either of those. Yes, I’m planning on going to one HUB’s open days soon – are you a full-time member?
I was actually musing on whether Clarke or Gaiman were inspired by Goddard’s words (I’m sure that Clarke, at least, would have known of the tale, and might have used it in a scene set 3 million years prior)
I’m a part-time Hub member. Meaning I go to the thursday lunch, have a yammer social account, and get discounts on certain talks/events. Rates are pretty flexible, but I’ll leave the details for Jan, Ehon, or Brad to explain to you later.
I have little more to say than I love it. I agree with Mars Dorian, the i-forget-the-name oldish effect is cool.
Bro! I Adored the gravestone pics! you Are A GENIUS!
Gavin!
This looks great! This is one of my all-time favorite quotes, and you definitely did the good Dr. Goddard well in this
How appropriate that you should release it today, too, the 43rd anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11–the mission that carried the first humans to step on our moon. Dr. Goddard put down quite a foundation for these heroes!
Thanks for submitting it Libby!
Gavin,
I adore almost every single one of these comics. If I had more money you’d be shipping me prints on a regular basis.
Hello Gavin,
I’m a frequent visitor from Puerto Rico and I wish to express my thanks and admiration for all your beautiful work. It is truly inspiring!
I love this quote.
AND the magnificent climax: the lighting effect of the rising rocket as we slowly scroll down the page is fascinating. I could even hear a majestic orchestral crescendo swelling up!
As a side note: I guess you’ll want to fix the birthdate on the tombstone, from 1892 to 1882.
Thanks Carlos, yes I will fix it! That’s 3 mistakes readers have pointed out for me – i’m losing it …
My God… I am actually in tears! Thank you.
Win!
I want you to know that I feel a lot of people are actually looking back into lives of people who have changed the world because of your art. This is a very different experience from what we get from history books or wiki pages. thank you so much and although I am no specialist at pedagogy and its methodologies but from my own experience as a student i feel this sort of storytelling can work wonders if included in curriculum for children. I mean i would never have hated history or science facts if it were portrayed to me like this!
Thanks for the lovely compliment – I’m definitely learning more stuff too from the reader-submitted quotes
Wow…the part with the rocket launching…it hit me right there. There’s no words.
You should do one on Tesla!
I will one day, but not so soon after The Oatmeal did his comic – don’t want people to think I’m copying him
That last panel sent shivers down my spine. Well done!
Gotta browse ‘em all!
I love these comics so very much, I really look forward to the email, and these are truly inspirational quotes. So much better than the boring ones! Sorry for gushing, but just thoguht I’d share. Thank you for starting the website Gavin
No need to apologise – i love being praised! Seriously, thanks
Always gives me the goose bump,
Thanks for keep drawing Gav
Another Gem Gav. Never heard of him. You are like Encyclopedia brown.
Like Bearman, I had never heard of Goddard either. I’m happy to have that rectified by such a lovely comic, and by your summary of his lifetime. Very awesome. Thank you!
very well done! doesn’t take the attention away from the content!
Good one. but actually it’s just like something said by Hegel (therefore by Plato). I don’t really remember the word but someone else might. it’s about something true yesterday become false today and the one true today become false tomorrow as a new truth discovered.
This is very, very inspiring, Gav. Love the whitespace in the strip, great anticipation building!
To link directly to 17 mins mark in the YouTube video, you could use this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EptcfnrwM1g&t=17m
Cheers!
Love your comics Gavin. I happen to share a similar interest in Carl Sagan and Neil Gaiman
Krishna Sangeeth, India
Hi Gav, Rose here again. Love this one so much. Many of your comics are inspiring, uplifting, and positive… and urge people to see the wonder in the world! We need more of that. Thanks again for sharing with us all.
I love all your comics! They are so inspirational!
I’m so embarrassed I didn’t know who Robert H. Goddard was ._.! I’m so glad I found this web site today in 9gag (I’m also glad they shared the source.). I have read just a few of your comics, but I feel like I’m learning a lot and and also am starting to feel things I just threw away with the time. Congratulations for this! Have you ilustrated a Richard Feynman’s quote? I have one that I really like, I hope you like it too, and I’m sorry if you have actually read it or even drew it
“I have approximate answers and possible beliefs in different degrees of certainty about different things, but I’m not absolutely sure of anything, and of many things I don’t know anything about, but I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose which is the way it really is as far as I can tell possibly. It doesn’t frighten me. “
Thanks Cris, Richard Feynman coming soon!
I found this Youtube video explains the complete reasoning behind that quote of Feynman. It is only 5 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zi699WzAL0
Hi there, I must admit that I’m a huge fan of your work, as a graphic designer and amateur ilustrator I love to see the work of people as talented as you. I’ve just watch all your gallery, every piece of your zen pencils collection, congratulations for your amazing talent and well, I don’t know what else to say XD just amazing
keep doing what you love
greetings from Mexico
Thanks Ruben!
Very nice comic, well executed and very well written.
On the subject of Goddard.
He got some of his theories vindicated before his death, although it was Nazi-Germany that saw the potential in his work. The V-1 and V-2 rockets are based on Goddards principles, and when the German rocket scientists was interrogated after the war they told the Americans that they got a lot from Goddards research.
Not only that, the germans were the first to reach space with the V2 rockets, ie, the 100 km mark. And if we’re talking about rocket pioneers, some praise should be given to Tsiokolvsky, who first developed the rocket equation and envisioned that travel in vacuum was possible.
This is the sort of thing that makes me want to believe in an afterlife. I wish Robert Goddard could have seen his dream realized!
Man… This comic does good story telling for people. I mean not only for kids, but for mature people too. Sometimes people give a laughable comments about what they think laughable thinking, however, this story telling is so good for defining how to behave the attitudes towards others. Anyway, nice job.
Great work as usual! I have been subscribed for around a month now but I have not taken the time to express my gratitude yet. So thank you for inspiring us with your drawings!
This one in particular made me cry. A great example of a man whose dream became larger than himself. Indeed, nothing is impossible!
it is interesting the same tv/news that told us it was bin laden who struck the towers is the same “people” who told us we went to the moon…. haha and none of us, or most have no idea how they would research if it would in fact be possible to fly a rocket to the moon.. just saying, dont be a dumb american and believe everything FOX pushes…
I know, I know, Don’t Feed The Troll, but where do you think those astronauts went with a Saturn V rocket under them loaded with 2,000 tons of rocket fuel inside?
Anonymous. Any university with a decent laser and laser receiver can and usually does prove, every year, if not every semester, that man has been to the moon. They simply shoot the laser up at one of the mirrors the astronauts left behind, “catch” the reflection, compare how long it took to how long it should have taken and boom…proof. Don’t you ever watch Mythbusters?
This is amazing, took my breath away.
I don’t know who many of the folks you quote are, but I always read the info and follow the links. Thanks for broadening my mind.
Keep it up, love from Dubai.
My pleasure.
One of his prototypes looks way too much like a V-2 rocket.
Jack Parson was the father of modern rocketry.
Let’s not forget that Goddard studied those subjects at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in lovely Worcester, MA! (That’s WUSS-ter, “wuss” as in the insult.) We have a building named after him, Goddard Hall — it’s actually built with a negative pressure differential relative to the outside air so that in the event of a chemical explosion the building will implode rather than strew debris across the campus. I believe that has already happened twice… Goddard would be proud.
I started to follow you today, I think this is great!
PRINT AVAILABLE!
http://society6.com/zenpencils/64-ROBERT-GODDARD_Print
GRACIAS POR COMPARTIR ESTO CON CON NOSOTROS
Hi Gav! I’m an avid fan…been following your works for a couple of weeks. I super love your works, they’re very inspiring! thank you so much for your brilliant comics!… you give me something to look forward to every morning. I’ve been promoting your site here at school and my classmates also got that good impression on what you do.
We will follow your works here in the Philippines. Keep up the great works! Inspire more people!
Thanks Brenade!
hmmm I’ll tell my teacher about you and your works!
The bell is ringing.. I need to go now. hehe.
Adelante!
This is awesome, took my breath away. When I was ten years old I saw October Sky, and I was so fascinated about the space and rockets that now I studing Mechanical engineering. I want this one printed in my room.
Thanks Dav, this is a amazing work!!! Keep Going!
This one gave me a lump in my throat. Simple but beautifully effective.
I don’t want to be a buzz kill, and Robert Goddard was definitely a great guy, but modern (American) rocketry was basically created by the Nazis (e.g. Wernher von Braun) we stole from Germany after WWII.
And the Germans got their ideas from Goddard’s work. This is how science works. Rarely does someone produce the “end product” (if there were such a thing) by themselves. It’s all cumulative.
We at wcuw.org 91.3fm in Worcester, MASS are proud to be able to say that it DID take a rocket scientist to launch our radio station. Robert Goddard launched WCUW, one of the earlier radio stations in the area and country while at Clark University in 1922. For 50 years it was a college station until becoming an independent, community FM station in 1973.
This is beautiful Gavin! Awesome, awesome work!
Quotes never were so inspiring, until you came along.
Thanks Gavin! You are doing such a favour in creating a visual impression reflecting the philosophy of life so simply! No wonder every one of your audience appreciates you so.
usa? oh cmon…
beautiful comics btw
This one is my favourite. That frame where the Saturn V kicks in is so “Bitch, Please”. Can imagine NYT going “Okay” on seeing that.
This Guy truly found what most people, and this includes me to a certain point, are still searching for.
Purpose. Determination. Legitimate egoism, (take it as it’s written)
By reading the short text under the comic I nearly cried, trying to stop it with every bit of false proud I have to abandon yet.
His ambition was/is inspiring, showing us the meaning of
“The journey is the destination”.
Man, I forgot how much I love your Goddard comic. Geez, Gav, you made me tear up a little! It’s always nice coming back to ZenPencils and re-discovering some of these quotes. Please keep up your amazing work
Dr Goddard has since been honoured for his work with the development of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (among others):
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html
Would love to visit one day!
Nice wording i like this too much……you can also like my adding things Delhi VIP Escorts</a
Nice wording i like this too much……you can also like my adding things Delhi VIP Escorts
This is so beautiful!
I have seen this quote as one sentance.
By extension Goddard also opened the idea of the hybrid rocket (solid fuel, liquid oxidizer) that I think will lead to cheaper rockets.
Oh, by the way, Tsiokolvsky’s paralell stageing and cross feeding from dropable tanks is being used in the “Falcon Heavy” booster.
As to Von Brayn’s SS background, when Himmler said join the SS, you joined or you were in danger of being in one of the camps of no return.