FIRST STEPS TOWARD SPACE - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 10
tion for a U.S. patent on which has been filed by
the writer." Three possible methods are suggested
for "reaction against the air" electrostatically and
electromagnetically. The next five pages list several
dozen notes on rocket and space propulsion techniques
contained in Goddard's notebooks, together
with the dates recorded. The period covered is
1906-1912.
Abbot's reaction to these four remarkable reports
was not encouraging. In acknowledging the August
1923 report, Abbot wrote, ". . . very interesting
reading. I am, however, consumed with impatience,
and hope that you will be able to actually send a
rocket up into the air some time soon. Interplanetary
space would look much nearer to me
after I had seen one of your rockets go up five or
six miles in our own atmosphere." 81 The March
1924 and August 1929 reports were each acknowledged
with a single sentence stating that the
material had been filed with the other papers
relating to his experiments. One has the feeling
that Abbot may have shaken his head gently while
doing so.
In summing up this review of the relationship
between Goddard and the Smithsonian, the following
points are clear:
1. The Smithsonian Institution, primarily
through the efforts of Charles Greely Abbot, enjoyed
29 years of friendly association with Robert
Hutchings Goddard and continually supported his
work.
2. Professor Goddard was a man of great creativity
and inventiveness. A practical physicist, he
displayed remarkable patience and persistence in
his efforts to achieve successful sounding rockets
for upper-atmosphere research.
3. Goddard's unpublished papers show that he
dreamed of flight to the Moon and planets, and
was caught up in the excitement of exploring the
unknown. In a letter written in 1932 to H. G. Wells
(Goddard, then 50 years old, had been strongly
influenced by Wells' War of the Worlds) he revealed
his inner drive by saying:
How many more years I shall be able to work on the problem,
I do not know; I hope, as long as I live. There can be
no thought of finishing, for "aiming at the stars," both
literally and figuratively, is a problem to occupy generations,
so that no matter how much progress one makes, there is
always the thrill of just beginning ... .85
A special note of appreciation is given Mrs.
Robert H. Goddard for her kindness in supplying
detailed information not easily located, answering
questions, and otherwise generously assisting the
writer in understanding this remarkable man.
NOTES
1. Robert H. Goddard to President, Smithsonian Institution,
27 September 1916, in The Papers of Robert H. Goddard,
edited by Esther C. Goddard and G. Edward Pendray
(New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1970), 3 vols.,
vol. 1, p. 170. (Hereafter cited as "Papers").
2. Papers, 1:174.
3. Papers, 1:175.
4. Abbot to Walcott, 2 October 1916, Papers, 1:175.
5. Walcott to Goddard, 11 October 1916, Papers, 1:176.
6. Goddard to Secretary, Smithsonian Institution (C. D.
Walcott), 19 October 1916, Papers, 1:177-78.
7. Walcott to Goddard, 29 November 1916, Papers, 1:179-80.
8. Goddard to Walcott, 4 December 1916, Papers, 1:180.
9. Abbot to Walcott, 18 December 1916, Papers, 1:181.
10. Buckingham to Walcott, 26 December 1916, Papers,
1:181.
11. Walcott to Goddard, 5 January 1917, and Goddard to
Walcott, 9 January 1917, Papers, 1:190-91.
12. Walcott to R. S. Woodward, President, Carnegie Institution
of Washington, 1 June 1918, Papers, 1:232-33.
13. Goddard to Walcott, 11 April 1917, Papers, 1:194.
14. Abbot to Walcott, 14 April 1917, and Walcott to Goddard,
20 April 1917, Papers, 1:195-96.
15. Goddard to Walcott, 20 August 1917, Papers, 1:199.
16. Walcott and Stratton to Major General George O.
Squier, U.S. War Department, 22 January 1918, and report
on Dr. Goddard's device by Abbot and Buckingham, 22
January 1918, Papers, 1:210-12.
17. Papers, see footnote, 1:213.
18. These activities are described in great detail in Papers,
1:213-95.
19. Abbot to Walcott, "Report on Trip to Schenectady and
Worcester," 19 March 1918. Robert H. Goddard-Smithsonian
Institution Correspondence in the Archives of the Smithsonian
Institution (hereafter cited as "S I Archives").
20. Walcott to Squier, 19 March 1918; Abbot to Walcott,
29 March 1918; Walcott to Maj. Gen. E. H. Crowder, 1 April
1918; Abbot to Goddard, 2 April 1918; SI Archives.
21. Goddard to Walcott, 1 May 1918, SI Archives.
22. Walcott to Squier, 3 May 1918; Capt. J. R. Hoover,
Office of Chief of Ordnance, U.S. Army, to Walcott, 10 May
1918; SI Archives.
23. "Statement of C. G. Abbot," 31 May 1918, SI Archives.
Goddard to George I. Rockwood, 24 January 1918, Papers,
1:212. Colonel E. M. Shinkle, Army Ordnance Department,
to Rockwood, 27 May 1918; Memorandum by Brigadier General
C. McK. Saltzman, Signal Corps, for Acting Chief of
Ordnance, 27 May 1918; Goddard to Walcott, 29 May 1918;
Walcott to Squier, 31 May 1918; Papers, 1:228-32.
24. See note 12. Also Woodward to Walcott, 3 June 1918;
Walcott to Goddard, 3 June 1918; Goddard to Abbot, 4 June
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