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Inside This Issue
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A Change Is Coming
Do You Even Macro?
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Don’t Let Your Scar Be a Reminder of Lost Money
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Can a Desk Job Be Part of a Healthy Lifestyle?
Squash and Sausage Soup
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Massachusetts History: Robert Goddard
Massachusetts History: Robert Goddard
"It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow."
October marks the birthday of one of Massachusetts' most influential historical figures, which is a tall order in a state that can lay claim to Abigail Adams, Malcolm X, and Larry Bird. But while all of those people had great influence on human affairs on Earth, none of them yearned to slip the bounds of gravity and journey to the heavens. And that’s exactly what Robert Goddard did. Goddard was a pioneering physicist and inventor who was born on October 5, 1882. One of the original rocket scientists, he was widely considered to be a hack. His lofty ideas seemed like pure science fiction to people still getting used to the automobile, but Goddard’s ambition led him to conceive many stupendous ideas that would eventually take mankind to the stars. If his head was in the clouds, Goddard made up for it by having his feet firmly planted in the hard sciences. Educated at South Community High School and then Worcester Polytechnic, Goddard’s groundbreaking research and ideas were being published in reputable industry periodicals like Scientific American before
he turned 30. Teaching jobs at Clark University and sponsorships from the Smithsonian Institute followed, although Goddard’s work was often ridiculed in the press. This derision partly influenced his decision to relocate to Roswell, New Mexico (think Area 51), and work in total secrecy and solitude in the 1930s. Goddard continued his pioneering work with liquid rocket fuel, thrusters, and gyroscopes, and he’d occasionally consult with others when they were stuck with a rocketry problem of their own. Goddard died in the ’40s, but his legacy lived on — even in Worcester, the home city from which he’d left. After all, it was another prominent Massachusetts native by the name of John F. Kennedy who embraced the rocketry program and put the field that Goddard founded on track to reach the moon in the 1960s. Goddard never lived to see it, but it wouldn’t have been possible without his work and vision.
Today, you can visit a memorial to him near his house, now located on Goddard Memorial Drive in Worcester.
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