Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, an outstanding researcher, a major scientist in the field of aeronautics, aviation and astronautics, a true innovator in science, was born on September 5 (17), 1857 in the village of Izhevskoye, Ryazan province, in the family of forester Eduard Ignatievich Tsiolkovsky. He grew up as a smart, inquisitive and impressionable child. Already during these years, the character of the future scientist was formed - independent, persistent and purposeful. "I think I got the connection strong will father with the talent of the mother,” Tsiolkovsky later wrote.

At the age of 10, Tsiolkovsky suffered a great misfortune - he fell ill with scarlet fever and, as a result of complications, almost completely lost his hearing.

His son’s outstanding abilities and penchant for independent work and invention forced his father to think about his further education. Tsiolkovsky was 16 years old when his father decided to send him to Moscow to continue his studies. Three years of independent, purposeful studies in the library of the Rumyantsev Museum enriched the young man with knowledge in the fields of mathematics, physics and astronomy.

After returning from Moscow in the fall of 1879, Tsiolkovsky passed the exam as an external student at the Ryazan gymnasium for the title of teacher of district schools and three months later received an appointment to the small town of Borovsk, Kaluga province. For 12 years, Tsiolkovsky lived and worked in Borovsk, teaching arithmetic and geometry. There he married Varvara Evgrafovna Sokolova, who became his faithful assistant and adviser, the mother of his seven children.

While teaching, Tsiolkovsky began to engage in scientific work. Already in 1883, he wrote the work “Free Space”, in which he made an important conclusion about the possibility of using jet propulsion to move in world space.

Almost all his life, Tsiolkovsky was heavily involved in aeronautics.

His first scientific work on aeronautics, “Metal Balloon, Controlled,” was published in 1892.

In the same year, in connection with Tsiolkovsky’s transfer to the Kaluga district school, the Tsiolkovsky family moved to Kaluga. For many years the family had to live in private apartments before they managed to buy a small house on the outskirts of the city.

In 1903, Tsiolkovsky’s first article on rocket technology, “Exploration of world spaces using rocket instruments,” appeared in the journal “Scientific Review” No. 5. In this work, the scientist for the first time proposed a liquid-propellant rocket project for the actual implementation of space flight and substantiated the theory of its flight.

The first part of Tsiolkovsky’s article “Exploration of world spaces using jet instruments” went unnoticed by the wider scientific community. The second part, published in the journal "Bulletin of Aeronautics", was published in 1911-1912 and caused a great resonance. Famous popularizers of science and technology V.V. Ryumin, Ya.I. Perelman and N.A. Rynin began to spread Tsiolkovsky’s space ideas and over time became his true friends. Tsiolkovsky was also greatly helped by numerous Kaluga friends: V.I. Assonov, P.P. Canning, S.E. Eremeev, and later A.L. Chizhevsky and S.V. Shcherbakov. In 1914, Tsiolkovsky published a separate brochure “Addition to the Study of World Spaces by Reactive Instruments.”

Scientific activity occupied everything free time Tsiolkovsky, but the main work for many years was still teaching. His lessons aroused students' interest and gave them practical skills and knowledge. Only in November 1921, at the age of 64, Tsiolkovsky left his teaching job.

After the Great October Socialist Revolution, his scientific activity received government support. In 1918, Tsiolkovsky was elected a member of the Socialist Academy. In 1921, Tsiolkovsky was assigned an increased personal pension.

The government's attention to the scientist's research work contributed to the recognition of Tsiolkovsky's work and increased popularity.

In 1932, Tsiolkovsky turned 75 years old. This event was marked by ceremonial meetings in Moscow and Kaluga.

The government awarded the scientist the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for “special services in the field of inventions of great importance for economic power and defense USSR" The presentation of the order took place in the Kremlin on November 27, 1932. Receiving the order, Tsiolkovsky said: “I can only thank the Government for this high award through my labors. There is no point in saying thanks with words.”

The scientist took up his work with renewed vigor; he still paid a lot of attention to scientific work and propaganda scientific knowledge, led a big community service. Tsiolkovsky met with workers, scientists, and collective farmers, often spoke to young people, and was a consultant for the science fiction film “Space Flight.”

In August 1935, Tsiolkovsky's health deteriorated sharply. On September 13, he dictated his will.

On September 19, 1935, Tsiolkovsky passed away. He was buried in Kaluga in the Country Garden (now a park named after him).

On September 17, 1857, in the Ryazan province, a man was born, without whom it is impossible to imagine astronautics. This is Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, a self-taught scientist who substantiated the idea that rockets should be used for space flights.
He sincerely believed that humanity would reach such a level of development that it would be able to populate the vastness of the Universe.

Tsiolkovsky - nobleman

Father Eduard Ignatievich worked as a forester and was, as his son recalled, from an impoverished noble family, and mother Maria Ivanovna came from a family of small landowners. She taught him grammar and reading.
“Glimpses of serious mental consciousness appeared while reading. At the age of 14, I decided to read arithmetic, and everything there seemed to me completely clear and understandable. From that time on, I realized that books are a simple thing and quite accessible to me.”
“Abyss of discoveries and wisdom await us. We will live to receive them and reign in the Universe, like other immortals.”

Tsiolkovsky suffered from deafness since childhood

Little Konstantin suffered from scarlet fever as a child, which made it difficult for him to study at the men's gymnasium in Vyatka (modern Kirov), where he moved in 1868. In general, Tsiolkovsky was often punished for all sorts of pranks in class.
“The fear of natural death will be destroyed by a deep knowledge of nature.”
“Inevitably they come first: thought, fantasy, fairy tale. They are followed by scientific calculation and, in the end, execution crowns thought.”

The scientist did not receive an education

Tsiolkovsky was expelled from the gymnasium. And when the young man was 16 years old, he failed to enter the Moscow technical school. After that, Konstantin was engaged only in self-education and tutoring. In Moscow, he gnawed on the granite of science in the library of the Rumyantsev Museum. According to Tsiolkovsky’s memoirs, he was so short of money in the capital that he literally ate only black bread and water.
“The main motive of my life is to do something useful for people, not to live my life in vain, to move humanity forward at least a little. That's why I was interested in what gave me neither bread nor strength. But I hope that my work, maybe soon, or maybe in the distant future, will give society mountains of bread and an abyss of power.”
“If people penetrate the solar system, manage it like a mistress in a house: will then the secrets of the world be revealed? Not at all! Just as examining a pebble or shell will not reveal the secrets of the ocean.”


The building where Tsiolkovsky most often worked

Tsiolkovsky was a teacher by profession

Returning home to Ryazan, Konstantin successfully passed the exams for the title of district mathematics teacher. He received a referral to the Borovsk School (the territory of the modern Kaluga region), where he settled in 1880. There the teacher wrote Scientific research and work. Having no connections in the scientific world, Tsiolkovsky independently developed the kinetic theory of gases. Although this was proven a quarter of a century ago. They say that Dmitry Mendeleev himself told him that he had discovered America.
“New ideas must be supported. Few have such value, but it is very precious property of people".
“Time may exist, but we do not know where to look for it. If time exists in nature, then it has not yet been discovered.”

Colleagues did not understand Tsiolkovsky at first

In 1885, the scientist became seriously interested in the idea of ​​creating a balloon. He sent reports and letters to scientific organizations regarding this issue. However, he was refused: “To provide Mr. Tsiolkovsky with moral support by informing him of the Department’s opinion on his project. Reject the request for benefits for conducting experiments,” they wrote to him from the Russian Technical Society. Nevertheless, the teacher managed to ensure that his articles and works were regularly published.
“Now, on the contrary, I am tormented by the thought: did my labors pay for the bread that I ate for 77 years? Therefore, all my life I aspired to peasant agriculture, so that I could literally eat my own bread.”
“Death is one of the illusions of the weak human mind. It does not exist, because the existence of an atom in inorganic matter is not marked by memory and time, the latter seems to not exist. The many existences of the atom in organic form merge into one subjectively continuous and happy life- happy, because there is no other.”

Illustration from the book “On the Moon”

Tsiolkovsky, before anyone else, knew what it was like to be on the Moon

In his science fiction story “On the Moon,” Tsiolkovsky wrote: “It was impossible to delay any longer: the heat was hellish; at least outside, in illuminated places, the stone soil became so hot that it was necessary to tie rather thick wooden planks under the boots. In our haste, we dropped glass and pottery, but it did not break - the weight was so weak.” According to many, the scientist accurately described the lunar atmosphere.
“The planet is the cradle of reason, but you cannot live forever in the cradle.”

The biography of Tsiolkovsky is interesting not only from the point of view of his achievements, although this great scientist had many of them. Konstantin Eduardovich is known to many as the developer of the first model of a rocket capable of flying into outer space. He is also a renowned scientist in the fields of aerotronautics, aerodynamics and aeronautics. This is a world-famous space explorer. Tsiolkovsky's biography is an example of perseverance in achieving a goal. Even in the most difficult life circumstances, he did not give up continuing his scientific work.

Origin, childhood

Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich (years of life - 1857-1935) was born on September 17, 1857 near Ryazan, in the village of Izhevskoye. However, he lived here only for a short time. When he was 3 years old, Eduard Ignatievich, the father of the future scientist, began having difficulties in his service. Because of this, the Tsiolkovsky family moved to Ryazan in 1860.

Mother was studying primary education Constantine and his brothers. It was she who taught him to write and read, and also introduced him to the basics of arithmetic. “Fairy Tales” by Alexander Afanasyev is the book from which Tsiolkovsky learned to read. His mother taught her son only the alphabet, but Kostya figured out himself how to make words from letters.

When the boy was 9 years old, he caught a cold after sledding and fell ill with scarlet fever. The disease progressed with complications, as a result of which Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky lost his hearing. Deaf Konstantin did not despair, did not lose interest in life. It was at this time that he began to become interested in craftsmanship. Tsiolkovsky loved making various figures out of paper.

Studying at the gymnasium, death of brother and mother

Konstantin, together with Ignatius, his younger brother, began to study at the Vyatka men's gymnasium in 1869. It was with great difficulty that he studied - there were many subjects, and the teachers turned out to be strict. In addition, deafness greatly hindered the boy. The death of Dmitry, Konstantin’s older brother, dates back to the same year. She shocked the whole family, but most of all her mother, Maria Ivanovna (her photo is presented above), whom Kostya loved very much. In 1870 she died unexpectedly.

The death of his mother shocked the boy. And before this, Tsiolkovsky, who did not shine with knowledge, began to study worse and worse. He became increasingly aware of his deafness, due to which he became increasingly isolated. It is known that Tsiolkovsky was often punished because of his pranks, and even ended up in a punishment cell. Konstantin stayed in second grade for a second year. And then, from the third grade (in 1873), he was expelled. Tsiolkovsky never studied anywhere else. From that time on, he studied independently.

Self-education

It was then that Konstantin Eduardovich found his real calling. The young man began to receive his own education. Books, unlike the gymnasium teachers, generously endowed Tsiolkovsky with knowledge and never reproached him. At the same time, Konstantin became involved in scientific and technical creativity. Tsiolkovsky created a lathe at home, as well as a number of other interesting inventions.

Life in Moscow

Eduard Ignatievich, believing in his son’s abilities, decided to send him to Moscow to enter the Higher Technical School (today it is the Bauman Moscow State Technical University). This happened in July 1873. However, Kostya never entered the school for an unknown reason. He continued to study independently in Moscow. Tsiolkovsky lived very poorly, but stubbornly strived for knowledge. He spent all the saved money sent by his father on instruments and books.

In the first year of his life in Moscow, Tsiolkovsky studied physics, as well as the beginnings of mathematics. They were followed by integral and differential calculus, spherical and analytical geometry, and higher algebra. Later, Konstantin studied mechanics, chemistry, and astronomy. In 3 years, he completely mastered the gymnasium curriculum, as well as the main part of the university curriculum. By this time, his father could no longer support Tsiolkovsky’s life in Moscow. Konstantin returned home in the fall of 1876, exhausted and weak.

Private lessons

Hard work and difficult conditions led to deterioration of vision. Tsiolkovsky began wearing glasses after returning home. Having regained his strength, he began giving private lessons in mathematics and physics. After some time, he no longer needed students, since he showed himself to be an excellent teacher. When teaching lessons, Tsiolkovsky used methods he himself developed, among which the main thing was visual demonstration. Tsiolkovsky made models of polyhedra from paper for geometry lessons and conducted physics experiments with his students. This earned him the reputation of a teacher who clearly explains the material. The students loved Tsiolkovsky’s classes, which were always interesting.

Death of a brother, passing an exam

Ignatius, Konstantin's younger brother, died at the end of 1876. The brothers had been very close since childhood, so his death was a big blow for Konstantin. The Tsiolkovsky family returned to Ryazan in 1878.

Immediately after his arrival, Konstantin underwent a medical examination, according to the results of which, due to deafness, he was exempted from passing military service. In order to continue working as a teacher, a confirmed qualification was required. And Tsiolkovsky coped with this task - in the fall of 1879 he passed the exam as an external student at the First Provincial Gymnasium. Now Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky has officially become a mathematics teacher.

Personal life

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the summer of 1880 married the daughter of the owner of the room in which he lived. And in January 1881, Eduard Ignatievich died.

Children of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky: daughter Lyubov and three sons - Ignatius, Alexander and Ivan.

Work at the Borovsky district school, first scientific works

Konstantin Eduardovich worked at the Borovsky district school as a teacher, while simultaneously continuing his research at home. He made drawings, worked on manuscripts, and conducted experiments. His first work was written on the topic of mechanics in biology. In 1881, Konstantin Eduardovich created his first work, which can be considered truly scientific. It's about about the "Theory of Gases". However, then he learned from D.I. Mendeleev, that the discovery of this theory occurred 10 years ago. Tsiolkovsky, despite the failure, continued his research.

Aerostat design development

One of the main problems that occupied him for a long time, there was a theory of balloons. After some time, Tsiolkovsky realized that this particular task was worth paying attention to. The scientist developed his own balloon design. The result of the work was the essay by Konstantin Eduardovich “Theory and experience of the balloon...” (1885-86). This work substantiated the creation of a fundamentally new design of an airship with a thin metal shell.

Fire in Tsiolkovsky's house

Tsiolkovsky's biography is marked by a tragic event that occurred on April 23, 1887. On this day, he was returning from Moscow after a report on his invention. It was then that a fire broke out in Tsiolkovsky’s house. Models, manuscripts, a library, drawings and all the family’s property burned in it, except for the sewing machine (they managed to throw it into the yard through the window). This was a very hard blow for Tsiolkovsky. He expressed his feelings and thoughts in a manuscript called "Prayer".

Moving to Kaluga, new works and research

D. S. Unkovsky, director of public schools, on January 27, 1892, proposed transferring one of the “most diligent” and “most capable” teachers to the Kaluga school. Here Konstantin Eduardovich lived until the end of his days. Since 1892, he worked at the Kaluga district school as a teacher of geometry and arithmetic. Since 1899, the scientist also taught physics classes at the women's diocesan school. Tsiolkovsky wrote his main works in Kaluga on the theory of jet propulsion, astronautics, space biology and medicine. In addition, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky continued to study the theory of the metal airship. The photo presented below is an image of the monument to this scientist in Moscow.

In 1921, after completing his teaching, he was given a lifetime personal pension. From that time until his death, Tsiolkovsky’s biography was marked by immersion in research, implementation of projects, and dissemination of his ideas. He was no longer involved in teaching.

The hardest time

The first 15 years of the 20th century were the most difficult for Tsiolkovsky. Ignatius, his son, committed suicide in 1902. In addition, in 1908, his house was flooded during the flood of the Oka River. Because of this, many machines and exhibits were disabled, and numerous unique calculations were lost.

First a fire, then a flood... It seems that Konstantin Eduardovich was not friendly with the elements. By the way, I remember the fire in 2001 that occurred on a Russian ship. The ship that caught fire on July 13 of this year is the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky motor ship. Fortunately, no one was killed, but the ship itself was badly damaged. Everything inside burned down, just like in the fire in 1887, which Konstantin Tsiolkovsky survived.

His biography is marked by difficulties that would break many, but not the famous scientist. And after a while his life became easier. Russian society On June 5, 1919, lovers of world studies made the scientist a member and granted him a pension. This saved Konstantin Eduardovich from starvation during the period of devastation, since the Socialist Academy did not accept him into its ranks on June 30, 1919 and thereby left him without a livelihood. The significance of the models presented by Tsiolkovsky was also not appreciated in the Physicochemical Society. In 1923, Alexander, his second son, committed suicide.

Recognition of the party leadership

The Soviet authorities remembered Tsiolkovsky only in 1923, after a publication by G. Oberth, a German physicist, about rocket engines and space flights. The living and working conditions of Konstantin Eduardovich changed dramatically after that. The party leadership of the USSR drew attention to such a prominent scientist as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. His biography has long been marked by many achievements, but until some time they were not of interest powerful of the world this. And in 1923, the scientist was granted a personal pension and provided with conditions for fruitful work. And on November 9, 1921, they began to pay him a pension for services to science. Tsiolkovsky received these funds until September 19, 1935. It was on this day that Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky died in Kaluga, which became his home.

Achievements

Tsiolkovsky proposed a number of ideas that have found application in rocket science. These are gas rudders designed to control the flight of a rocket; the use of propellant components to cool the outer shell of the ship during entry spacecraft into the earth's atmosphere, etc. As for the field of rocket fuels, Tsiolkovsky showed himself here too. He studied many different combustibles and oxidizers and recommended the use of fuel pairs: oxygen with hydrocarbons or hydrogen Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky. His inventions include a gas turbine engine circuit. In addition, in 1927, he published a diagram and theory of a hovercraft train. It was Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky who first proposed chassis retractable at the bottom of the body. What he invented, you now know. Airship construction and space flights are the main problems to which the scientist devoted his entire life.

In Kaluga there is a Museum of the History of Cosmonautics named after this scientist, where you can learn a lot, including about such a scientist as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. A photo of the museum building is presented above. In conclusion, I would like to quote one phrase. Its author is Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. His quotes are known to many, and you may know this one. “The planet is the cradle of reason, but you cannot live forever in the cradle,” Tsiolkovsky once said. Today this statement is located at the entrance to the park. Tsiolkovsky (Kaluga), where the scientist is buried.

Volodar LISHEVSKY

A passionate promoter of the ideas of aeronautics and space flight was Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky - in everyday life, a simple school teacher, a self-taught scientist. There is not the slightest shade of disdain or humiliation in the last words. They only mean that K.E. Tsiolkovsky did not receive a systematic education.

Any great scientist is self-taught. You cannot study to become an outstanding figure in science or technology at a university or other higher education institution. educational institution, otherwise humanity would receive tens of thousands of them every year. To become a great scientist or engineer, you must have talent, have the highest self-discipline, enormous capacity for work, and constantly engage in self-education in order to master all the knowledge acquired previously. Tsiolkovsky was exactly such a person.

He was born on September 17, 1857 in the village of Izhevsky, Spassky district, Ryazan province. His father was a forester, his mother drove household. His parents K.E. Tsiolkovsky characterizes it this way: “My mother was of a sanguine nature, hot-tempered, laughing, mocking and gifted. Character and willpower prevailed in the father, while talent prevailed in the mother... Our parents loved each other very much, but did not express this... Our family was poor and had many families.”

At the age of nine, the boy fell ill with scarlet fever, which was followed by a complication in the ears (weakened hearing). This misfortune left a tragic imprint on the scientist’s entire future life. In his autobiography, he writes: “What did deafness do to me? She made me suffer every minute of my life spent with people; I always felt isolated, offended, and an outcast with them. This deepened me into myself, forced me to seek great deeds in order to earn the approval of people and not be so contemptible... The initial blow from deafness produced a kind of dulling of the mind, which ceased to receive impressions from people.

I seemed to be stupefied, stunned, and constantly received ridicule and offensive remarks. My abilities have weakened. I seemed to be plunged into darkness. I couldn't go to school. I didn’t hear the teachers at all or heard only vague sounds. But gradually my mind found another source of ideas - in books.”

Two years later, Kostya suffered another terrible grief - the death of his mother. She paid a lot of attention and affection to her unfortunate son, tried in every possible way to smooth out the consequences of the illness and taught him literacy, writing, and the beginnings of arithmetic. Now the boy was left to his own devices and felt his loneliness even more. From now on, his only teacher is the printed word.

“From the age of fourteen or fifteen, I became interested in physics, chemistry, mechanics, astronomy, mathematics, etc. There were, however, few books, and I immersed myself more in my own thoughts.

Without stopping, I thought based on what I had read. There was a lot I didn’t understand, there was no one to explain and it was impossible given my disability. This all the more stimulated the independent activity of the mind... Deafness made my pride constantly suffer, it was my chase, the whip that drove me all my life and is now driving me, it separated me from people, from their stereotyped happiness, forced me to concentrate and surrender to my thoughts inspired by science.” .

But deafness also played a positive role. “Without her, I would never have done or finished so many works,” Tsiolkovsky later admitted.

At the age of 16, Konstantin left for Moscow to continue his self-education and get acquainted with the industry. In provincial Vyatka, where the family lived then, there were no conditions for this. Tsiolkovsky spent three years in Moscow, living in extreme poverty. He received 10...15 rubles a month from home, but spent it mainly on books, instruments, chemicals, etc. He subsequently wrote: “I remember that at that time I had nothing but water and black bread. Every three days I went to the bakery and bought 9 kopecks worth of bread there. Thus, I lived on 90 kopecks a month... Still, I was happy with my ideas, and the black bread did not upset me at all.”

In the first year he thoroughly studied elementary mathematics and physics, in the second - higher algebra, differential and integral calculus, and analytical geometry. In the preface to his book “Simple Doctrine of an Airship,” Tsiolkovsky wrote: “The thought of communicating with the world has never left me. She encouraged me to study higher mathematics.”

Young Tsiolkovsky did not stop his inventive activity. “I began to be terribly interested in various questions, and I tried to immediately apply the acquired knowledge to their solution. For example, here are the questions that interested me:

Is it possible to practically use the energy of the earth? Then I found the answer: it’s impossible.

Is it possible to arrange a train around the equator, in which there would be no gravity from centrifugal force? I answered myself negatively: it’s impossible...

Is it possible to build metal balloons that do not allow gas to pass through and float forever in the air? He answered: it’s possible.” Next, Tsiolkovsky lists a number of other questions that he was thinking about at that time.

After returning to Vyatka, Tsiolkovsky began giving private lessons to students of local schools to earn money, and in his free time he continued to invent (in particular, he built a self-propelled boat).

A year later, the family moved to live in Ryazan. There were no acquaintances here, and there were no lessons. The question arose: how to make a living? Tsiolkovsky passed the exams for the title of teacher as an external student and received the right to teach in district schools of the Ministry of Education. In the winter of 1879, he was assigned to the city of Borovsk.

Tsiolkovsky went down in the history of world and domestic science as a scientist and inventor who worked on three big problems: an all-metal airship, the theory of a well-streamlined airplane, and a rocket for interplanetary communications. He is the recognized founder of modern astronautics.

Works on balloons (airships) were carried out mainly in 1885...1892. How was Tsiolkovsky’s airship fundamentally different from previous designs? Firstly, because it was all-metal, which ensured significant strength of the device. Secondly, thanks to the corrugated shell, the balloon could change its volume and, therefore, maintain a constant lifting force at different altitudes at different ambient temperatures. The change in the volume of the balloon was ensured by a special tightening system. Finally, provision was made for heating the shell filler with the heat of the engine exhaust gases, which also made it possible to influence the amount of lift in the desired direction.

Despite the support of A.G. Stoletov and D.I. Mendeleev, employees of the aeronautical department of the Russian Technical Society, on whom the fate of the invention depended, rejected Tsiolkovsky’s project, believing that the balloon would always be just a toy of air currents. Tsiolkovsky wrote to Stoletov: “Dear Alexander Grigorievich! My faith in the great future of metallic controlled balloons is increasing and has now reached a high level. What should I do and how can I convince people that “the game is worth the candle”? I don’t care about my own benefits, just to put things on the right path.”

Advocating for the creation of airships, Tsiolkovsky wrote: “The most convenient way is by air. It is the shortest, does not freeze, does not require repairs, is the safest, exists for all land and all seas.”

Tsiolkovsky was a modest, shy person. This is evidenced, for example, by this episode. When the scientist lived in Borovsk, the local district chief, the famous inventor in the field of telephony P.M. The no less famous Sofya Vasilievna Kovalevskaya came to Golubitsky, who wanted to see Tsiolkovsky, but he avoided the meeting.

Shyness and deafness prevented the scientist from giving public lectures and reports. Therefore, all his educational and propaganda activities were expressed in writing articles, brochures and books. And he did it vividly and figuratively. Here, for example, is how a scientist artistically depicts the advantages of flying in a controlled balloon, trying to attract public attention to a new type of transport.

“Here is an aeronaut (airship - V.L.) stopping near the city... Passengers get off, board a tram, and ride home. Those departing on an air trip are coming from the city to meet them. They buy tickets for ten kopecks per hundred kilometers. They rush to take seats closer to the windows to enjoy the picture from a bird's eye view... They sit down, lay out their luggage, get to know each other, and praise the invention. But then the last bell rang, everyone fell silent and turned their gaze to the transparent windows; the aeronaut hesitated, rose imperceptibly...

The car shook, the windows and the cabin shook slightly.

Blue ribbons of rivers stretch in the distance; sparkle like magical, remote cities and villages. Covered in a bluish haze, they are full of mysterious charm...

The weather in the airship cabin is always excellent: the desired temperature, completely clean, dust-free air, light, comfort, space; neither wet nor dry, all comforts regarding hygiene, food, rest and entertainment. If you are flying in terrible heat... the heat does not exist for you: an increase of one or two kilometers lowers the temperature quite enough... There is no cold in the polar countries... the cabin can always be heated and overheated thanks to powerful engines, which usually emit a lot of heat directly into the atmosphere.

One passenger tells how he suffered from sea motion and cursed the ship and the waves... Another passenger talks about a sea storm, how everything fell, beat and broke...

At this time, the aeronaut trembled, the gondola began to oscillate and tremble; the interlocutors gasped; ironic exclamations were heard: “Here is your vaunted aeronaut!”

Meanwhile, the manager of the airship ordered it to be taken out of the danger zone. He was lowered in 5 minutes, and the aeronaut still floated smoothly, as if he was standing still...

Sometimes a calm layer with a uniform flow is higher, and then the aeronaut is lifted.

- These are the advantages of the airship! - travelers exclaimed from different sides, - there was a storm and it’s gone, it’s disappeared. Where can a ship escape from the excitement? He cannot rush either up or down...

The destination of the journey is visible in the distance: hometown... a few more minutes - and the aeronaut descends near the city... A light springy push, and he is firmly tied to the ground. They look at their watches... 400 kilometers flew by in 3 hours... People are reluctant to leave their cozy premises; There was a burning desire to continue the air journey. But it’s so accessible now! We'll fly again..."

Tsiolkovsky also pointed out the advantages of transporting goods by airships. He wrote about the cheapness of this type of transport, about the convenience of transporting easily perishable products, since the aeronaut can move at the altitude at which they are best preserved. But all the scientist’s efforts to interest the public and representatives of official science with his controlled balloon project were unsuccessful. Most did not take the provincial teacher's invention seriously. That is why the first Russian airship “Educational” appeared only in 1908 (In 1912, Russia already had 13 controlled balloons.) And the first successful flights of the airship took place in France in 1899 and in Germany in 1900 (Project F. Zeppelin is marked 1895 - five years later than Tsiolkovsky's proposal.)

The triumphant march of the idea of ​​aeronautics using heavier-than-air devices prompted Tsiolkovsky to take up this problem. In 1891, he wrote a work “On the Question of Flying with Wings,” which he sent to N.E. Zhukovsky. In his review, the “father of Russian aviation” noted: “Mr. Tsiolkovsky’s work makes a pleasant impression, since the author, using small means of analysis and cheap experiments, came to mostly correct results.

Although most of these results are already known, nevertheless, the author’s original research methods, reasoning and ingenious experiments are not without interest and, in any case, characterize him as a talented researcher... The author’s reasoning in relation to the flight of birds and insects is correct and completely coincides with modern views on this subject."

In 1894, Tsiolkovsky wrote a new work - “Airplane or bird-like (aviation) flying machine.” In this study, the scientist for the first time gave an aerodynamic calculation of the aircraft and proposed a design scheme that anticipated the technical thought of inventors in other countries by 15...20 years. It was along this path that the development of aircraft manufacturing took place. Tsiolkovsky's airplane had a wing with a thickened leading edge, a streamlined fuselage, a wheeled landing gear, and even a gyroscopic autopilot with an electric drive to the elevator.

To put his theoretical calculations on a solid foundation of experiment, Tsiolkovsky builds a “blower” (1897). This was the first structure of this kind in Russia. Zhukovsky's wind tunnel appeared five years later. If Nikolai Egorovich Zhukovsky is called the “father of Russian aviation,” then Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky can safely be called the “grandfather of Russian aerodynamics.”

Tsiolkovsky made his main contribution to astronautics. Jet propulsion and rockets have been known for a long time. They were used for fireworks, in warfare, for transferring cables from one ship to another, in whaling, etc. Tsiolkovsky was the first to scientifically substantiate the possibility of interplanetary communications using rockets and jet propulsion.

The first thoughts about using the principle of reactive recoil for space flights appeared in Tsiolkovsky back in 1883. In 1903, in the article “Exploration of world spaces using reactive instruments,” the scientist gave a mathematically rigorous theory of rocket flight, taking into account the change in its mass during movement, and laid the foundations of the theory liquid jet engine, as well as its structural elements. Publications on a similar topic appeared in France 10 years later, in America - 16 and in Germany - 20 years.

Subsequently, Tsiolkovsky successfully worked on many problems related to interplanetary communications. He proposed creating composite rockets or rocket trains to achieve cosmic speeds. A composite rocket was a structure made up of several rockets placed one after the other. The last rocket fires first. Having accelerated the “train” to a certain speed and exhausted the fuel, it separates, and the second stage is activated, then the third, etc., and one lead rocket reaches the target. This is exactly the scheme that currently operates in space flights.

Another idea was to connect a number of missiles in parallel. Tsiolkovsky called this design a “squadron of missiles.” In this case, all rockets operate simultaneously until half of the fuel is used up. Then the outer missiles pour fuel and oxidizer into the remaining missiles, separate, and the “squadron” flies on. One central missile also reaches the target.

Tsiolkovsky was the first to solve the problem of motion spaceship in the Earth's gravitational field and calculated the necessary fuel reserves to overcome the force of gravity. He also considered the influence of the atmosphere on the flight of a rocket, the possibility of controlling it using rudders installed in the path of gases emerging from the nozzle, the method of cooling the walls of the combustion chamber with fuel components, various fuel vapors (for example, alcohol and liquid oxygen), the creation of an artificial Earth satellite and a number of other questions, in particular, predicted what an astronaut would feel in a state of weightlessness.

“When we set out on our journey, we will experience very strange, completely wonderful, unexpected sensations...

Sign given; explosion began, accompanied by a deafening noise. The rocket trembled and set off. We feel terribly heavy. Four pounds of my weight turned into 40 pounds... The gravity in the rocket apparently increased 10 times. This would be announced to us by: spring scales or a dynamometer (a pound of gold suspended on their hook turned into 10 pounds), accelerated swings of the pendulum (more than 3 times more frequent), faster falling of bodies, a decrease in the size of drops (their diameter decreases). 10 times), weighting of all things and many other phenomena...

The hellish severity we experience will continue for 113 seconds, or about 2 minutes, until the explosion and its noise stop. Then, when dead silence sets in, the heaviness disappears as instantly as it appeared... The heaviness not only weakened, it evaporated without a trace; We don’t even experience the gravity of the earth, to which we are accustomed as to air...

The force of gravity acts equally on the rocket and on the bodies in it. Therefore, there is no difference in the movement of the rocket and the bodies placed in it. They are carried away by the same flow, the same force, and there seems to be no gravity for the rocket.

We are convinced of this by the signs. All objects not attached to the rocket have left their places and are hanging in the air, not touching anything; and if they touch, they do not exert pressure on each other or on the support. We ourselves also do not touch the floor and accept any position and direction: we stand on the floor, on the ceiling, and on the wall; We stand perpendicular and oblique; we swim in the middle of the rocket, like fish, but without effort, and without touching anything; no object presses on another unless they are pressed against each other.

Water does not flow from the decanter, the pendulum does not swing and hangs sideways. The huge mass suspended on the hook of a spring scale produces no tension on the spring, and it always shows zero. Lever scales also turn out to be useless: the beam takes any position, indifferently and regardless of the equality or inequality of the weights on the cups... It is impossible to determine the mass using ordinary, earthly methods.

The oil, shaken out of the bottle with some difficulty (because the pressure or elasticity of the air we breathe in the rocket interfered), takes the form of an oscillating ball; after a few minutes the oscillation stops, and we have a liquid ball of excellent precision; we break it into parts - we get a group of smaller balls of different sizes...

An object carefully released from the hands does not fall, but when pushed, it moves rectilinearly and evenly until it hits a wall or bumps into something to start moving again, although at a lower speed... At the same time, it rotates, like a child’s a top... It is difficult to push a body without imparting rotation to it.

We feel good, easy, like on the softest feather bed, but the blood rushes a little to our head; Harmful for full-blooded people.

Everything is so quiet, good, calm. We open the outer shutters of all the windows and look through the thick glass...

As we move away from the surface of the Earth and rise in height... the globe, whether in this form or in the form of a sickle or bowl, seems to decrease, while we survey (absolutely) more and more of its surface...

There is actually no top and bottom in a rocket, because there is no relative gravity, and a body left without support does not tend to any wall, but the subjective sensations of top and bottom still remain. We feel up and down, only their places change with a change in the direction of our body in space. To the side where our head is, we see the top, where the legs are, the bottom. So, if we turn our head to our planet, it appears to us in height; turning to it with our feet, we plunge it into the abyss, because it seems to us below. The picture is grandiose and, for the first time, scary; then you get used to it and actually lose the concept of up and down.”

After his historic triumphant space flight, Yu.A. Gagarin told reporters at the first press conference: “I am simply amazed at how correctly our wonderful scientist could have foreseen everything that I just happened to encounter, that I had to experience for myself! Many, many of his assumptions turned out to be completely correct. Yesterday’s flight clearly convinced me of this.”

What will those remaining on Earth see? This is how Tsiolkovsky describes the launch of a space rocket.

“The friends who were watching us from Earth saw how the rocket began to hum and, breaking from its place, flew upward, like a falling stone, only in the opposite direction and 10 times more energetic... Half a minute later it was already at an altitude of 40 kilometers, but we continue to see it freely with the naked eye, because, thanks to the ever-increasing speed of movement, it has heated up to white (like an aerolite), and its protective refractory and non-oxidizing shell shines like a star. This star-bearing flight continued for more than a minute; then everything gradually disappears, because, having left the atmosphere, the rocket no longer rubs against the air, cools down and gradually goes out. Now it can only be found with the help of a telescope.”

Each of us has repeatedly watched the launch of a space rocket, looking at the TV screen or in the cinema, and can confirm that this is exactly what happens.

How did Tsiolkovsky come up with the idea of ​​using a rocket for interplanetary flights? What made the scientist go into astronautics? What reasons prompted him to do this work?

Tsiolkovsky himself answered the first question in the preface to the second part of his work “Exploration of World Spaces with Jet Instruments” (1911): “For a long time I looked at the rocket, like everyone else: from the point of view of entertainment and small applications. I don’t remember well how it occurred to me to make calculations related to the rocket.

It seems to me that the first seeds of thought were sown by the famous dreamer Jules Verne; he awakened the work of my brain in a certain direction. Desires appeared; behind the desires the activity of the mind arose. Of course, it would not have led to anything if it had not found help from science...

Why is it necessary to master outer space?.. There is a lot of energy (solar) and various people need materials...

The overpopulation of humanity on Earth also forces us to struggle with the heaviness and use of the heavenly space and its riches.”

About the goals of his activities, Tsiolkovsky wrote: “The main motive of my life is to do something useful for people, not to live life in vain, to advance humanity at least a little forward. That's why I was interested in what gave me neither bread nor strength. But I hope that my work - maybe soon, or maybe in the distant future - will give society mountains of bread and an abyss of power.”

All of his popular science works are very clearly and clearly written. In one work devoted to the art of Tsiolkovsky as a popularizer, it was argued that he even used Russian letters instead of Latin letters in formulas in order to make his brochures more understandable to readers. Of course, this is an exaggeration. Tsiolkovsky was forced to write formulas in Russian letters, since the provincial Kaluga printing house did not have a Latin font.

Tsiolkovsky was an excellent, skillful popularizer. And this is clearly visible from the excerpts from his works that were given. Here are a few more examples that support this idea.

In one of his first popular science works, “Dreams of Earth and Sky” (1895), he describes the size of the Earth in the following words: “If you walk continuously, day and night, and “by sea, by land,” at a speed of 41, 2 kilometers per hour, then in a year of such an unhindered and tireless procession we will go around the entire globe in its large circle.

If you take only one second to examine each square kilometer of the Earth, then it will take 16 years to examine its entire surface...

If we assume that the Earth is divided into cubes and that one second is enough to examine each cubic kilometer of it, then it will take 32,000 years to examine the entire mass of the Earth, outside and inside.”

In the book “Dreams of Earth and Sky,” Tsiolkovsky first expressed the idea of ​​​​the possibility of creating artificial Earth satellites. He wrote: “An imaginary satellite of the Earth, like the Moon, but arbitrarily close to our planet, only outside its atmosphere, which means 300 versts from earth's surface, will present, with a very small mass, an example of a medium free from gravity."

Is it possible to create weightlessness on Earth and feel its effect on humans? Tsiolkovsky answers the question this way: “Let’s imagine a large, well-lit tank with clear water. A person whose average density is equal to the density of water, being immersed in it, loses weight, the effect of which is balanced by the reverse effect of water. By wearing special glasses, you can see in the water as well as in the air, if the layer of water is small and clear. You can also adapt a free breathing apparatus. But still the illusion will be far and far from complete. True, a person will be in equilibrium in any place in the liquid... but the resistance of water is so enormous that the movement imparted to the body is almost instantly lost... Since such a position in water is completely harmless, one must think that the absence of gravity and for an arbitrarily long time will be tolerated by a person without bad consequences."

We know that now one of the ways to prepare astronauts to face weightlessness is to train them in a special pool, where even entire stations are placed.

Tsiolkovsky owns inventions and discoveries not only in the field of astronautics or airship construction. For example, he predicted the appearance of hovercraft. The scientist wrote: in order to get greater speed, “the wheels are useless. A special smooth path is needed. Air is pumped under the train, so that friction is greatly reduced: the train with a flat base glides along the air layer.”

Tsiolkovsky was a versatile person. He dealt not only with issues of conquering the atmosphere, stratosphere and interplanetary space. His works include works on astronomy, astrophysics, mathematics, biology, and philosophy. Among them: “Gravity as a source of world energy”, “Formation of the Earth and the solar system”, “Mechanics of the animal organism” (it received a positive review from I.M. Sechenov), “Theory of Gases”, in which he outlined the foundations of the kinetic theory of gases ( Tsiolkovsky did not know that this theory was created before him by L. Boltzmann). The scientist himself later (in 1928) assessed this aspect of his activity as follows: “I discovered a lot that had already been discovered before me. I recognize the significance of such works only for myself, since they gave me confidence in my abilities... At first I made discoveries that had long been known, then not so long ago, and then completely new ones.”

Until 1917, Tsiolkovsky had a difficult life as an unrecognized genius. He wrote: “It’s hard to work alone for many years when unfavorable conditions and not see any light or help from anywhere.”

Attitudes towards scientists changed dramatically after the Great October Socialist Revolution. His name became known to the broad masses of working people, his works were published without hindrance, he was awarded a lifelong pension, and he was surrounded by everyone's attention. “I felt the love of the masses,” wrote Tsiolkovsky.

He was elected member of many research organizations and institutions: Socialist Academy social sciences(1918), Russian Society of World Science Lovers in Petrograd (1919), Southern Astronomical Society (1927), Commission for Scientific Aeronautics (1928), Osoaviakhim Union (1932), honorary professor of the Academy air fleet (1924).

In 1932, the 75th anniversary of K.E. was celebrated in a solemn atmosphere. Tsiolkovsky. Many scientists and famous public figures came to Kaluga, among them the leader of the German communists Ernst Thälmann. Among the greeting messages were telegrams from the famous scientist and inventor, one of the pioneers of rocket technology F.A. Tsander and the head of the Jet Propulsion Research Group (GIRD) S.P. Queen.

At the meeting, a speech was read out that Tsiolkovsky prepared specifically for the solemn day, which can also serve as an example of popularization. It said:

“A stone thrown upward comes back. You won’t be able to hit a star with it, you won’t be able to throw it into the sky. Even a large and well-shaped artillery shell, with an initial speed of 2 km, rises no higher than 200 km. It will reach the limits of the atmosphere, but will not reach the Moon and other celestial bodies.

However, calculations show that any object to which we are able to impart a second speed of 11 versts (6 times the maximum practical speed of a military projectile) will move away forever from the Earth. He will completely overcome its gravity and will wander within the planetary system until he collides with some body. It may also collide with the Earth. He would have completely flown away from her if not for the attraction of the Sun...

A second speed of 17 versts will already overcome the gravity of the Sun. A body thrown with such speed will wander among other suns and other planetary systems. It won't just come out of the Milky Way or our group of suns.

This means that communication with the sky, with all the billion suns of the Milky Way, with hundreds of billions of their planets, is determined by obtaining a second speed that is 8 or 10 times greater than the speed of our most powerful military projectiles.”

“At the moment, the most accessible device for this purpose is a rocket projectile, like a large rocket. It stores liquid oxygen and liquid fuel, such as oil. These substances are fed into the carburetor, where they combine and create a series of explosions. The recoil or reaction, like from a gun, makes such a rocket move. But to achieve cosmic speeds, a huge amount of fuel and oxygen is required. At least 5...10 times more than the weight of the entire rocket with passengers and instruments. Theoretically this is possible, but in practice..."

Then they talked about the concept of the spacecraft, its structure, its advantages over other types of transport and the technical difficulties of its creation.

“We must admit that the difficulties of obtaining cosmic velocities and flying beyond the atmosphere are immeasurable. But that this can be achieved, there is no doubt about it: all the scientific evidence is for this. The only question is time. It may be greatly reduced when the importance of transatmospheric travel becomes widespread and confidence in its implementation becomes widespread. Then there will be no shortage of resources and strength, and we will achieve success sooner.”

When will this happen? Tsiolkovsky could not give an answer to this question. After all, only a year after the anniversary, in August 1933, the first Soviet liquid-propellant rocket GIRD-09 took off into the sky. So he said this: “I firmly believe in the feasibility space travel and populating sunny spaces. But I will never dare to say when this will be.”

In connection with the 75th anniversary of his birth and for services to the country, K.E. Tsiolkovsky was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

Shortly before his death, in the article “Is it only a fantasy” (Komsomolskaya Pravda, 1935, July 23), he wrote: “The more I worked, the more I found various difficulties and obstacles. Until recently, I assumed that it takes hundreds of years to fly at astronomical speeds (8...17 kilometers per second). This was confirmed by the weak results obtained here and abroad. But continuous operation V Lately shook these pessimistic views of mine: techniques were found that will give amazing results within decades.”

And he was right. Exactly 100 years after his birth, just 22 years after his death, the first artificial Earth satellite took off, and four years later, a man on planet Earth, a citizen of the Country of Soviets Yu.A., made the first space flight. Gagarin.

Scientists, engineers, and journalists came to Tsiolkovsky. They discussed various problems with him, asked questions, asked his opinion about various phenomena science and life, in particular about the attitude towards science fiction.

“Fantastic stories on the topics of interplanetary flights bring new ideas to the masses,” the scientist answered. “Whoever does this does something useful: it arouses interest, stimulates the brain to activity, gives birth to sympathizers and future workers of great intentions.”

In the obituary, the Pravda newspaper wrote: “... someday our descendants will master outer space, they will highly honor Tsiolkovsky, because he was the first to give a scientifically substantiated hypothesis of interplanetary travel.”

K.E. Tsiolkovsky is buried in Kaluga. His words are engraved on his monument: “Humanity will not remain on earth forever, but in pursuit of light and space, it will first timidly penetrate beyond the atmosphere, and then conquer the entire circumsolar space.”

He firmly believed that “what is impossible today will be possible tomorrow.”

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's brief biography is presented in this article and can be supplemented.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky short biography

Born into the family of a forester in the village of Izhevskoye, Ryazan Province, in 1857 on September 5. After suffering from scarlet fever in childhood, he almost completely lost his hearing; Deafness did not allow him to continue his studies at school, and from the age of 14 he studied independently.

From 16 to 19 years old he lived in Moscow, studied physical and mathematical sciences in the secondary and high school. In 1879, he passed the exams for the title of teacher as an external student and in 1880 was appointed teacher of arithmetic and geometry at the Borovsk district school in the Kaluga province.

For 12 years, Tsiolkovsky lived and worked in Borovsk, teaching arithmetic and geometry. There he married Varvara Evgrafovna Sokolova, who became his faithful assistant and adviser.

While teaching, Tsiolkovsky began to engage in scientific work.
Almost all of the works of this great inventor were devoted to jet vehicles, airplanes, airships, and many other aerodynamic studies.

It is worth especially noting that it was Konstantin Eduardovich who came up with a completely new idea for those times of building an airplane with a metal skin and frame. In addition, in 1898, Tsiolkovsky became the first Russian citizen to independently develop and build wind tunnel, which subsequently began to be used in many flying machines.

The passion to understand the sky and space prompted Konstantin Eduardovich to write more than four hundred works, which are known only to a small circle of his admirers.

Among other things, thanks to the unique and thoughtful proposals of this great researcher, today almost all military artillery uses trestles for launching volley fire. In addition, it was Tsiolkovsky who thought of a way to refuel missiles during their actual flight.

Scientific activity occupied all of Tsiolkovsky’s free time, but his main work for many years was still teaching. His lessons aroused students' interest and gave them practical skills and knowledge. Only in November 1921, at the age of 64, Tsiolkovsky left his teaching job.

After the Great October Socialist Revolution, his scientific work received state support. In 1918, Tsiolkovsky was elected a member of the Socialist Academy. In 1921, Tsiolkovsky was assigned an increased personal pension.