Talk:Robert H. Goddard

message: At present (13 May 2006), there is too much coverage of the New York Times' criticism of Goddard's work, too little coverage of the major patents Goddard was awarded (and their importance), and too little on Goddard's early research (esp. his groundbreaking work A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes).
The New York Times section currently takes up as much as 20 percent of the writeup of this article. While the lack of vision by the New York Times is important to understand in viewing Goddard's legacy, it is still only an amusing anecdote in Goddard's life. Therefore, it needs to be viewed in the larger context of Goddard's career, and that should mean giving greater emphasis to what he accomplished.
It is important to understand Goddard's major patents, which are hardly mentioned at all in this article, and his pioneering book, which until recently had not even been mentioned in the body of the article. Clearly, there are a number of improvements to be made to bring up the quality of this article.
-- Christopher Nieman 19:14, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Excellent; everybody looks forward to seeing what you add! - DavidWBrooks 22:23, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  ''New York Times'', patents, early work 

message: I found a page from Clark University that mentions his brother. Is this good enough to cite?
http://www.clarku.edu/research/archives/goddard/faqs.cfm
99.156.135.206 (talk) 19:03, 19 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Brother 

message: I think that sentence:
He was the first not only to recognize the scientific potential of missiles and space travel but also to bring about the design and construction of the rockets needed to implement those ideas.[12]
should be changed, because clearly Tsiolkovski was first in this field. Goddard was first only in america. I haven't read the related bibliographical possition. Can anyone comment on that?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.51.46.186 (talk) 11:05, 25 July 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Was he first 

message: Recent edits relate to filing patents after death.  As far as I know, there is no rule against it, being filed by his estate (or wife, as it says in the article).  But presumably also, some filed before death were awarded after death.  We should get this right. Gah4 (talk) 22:15, 12 April 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  filed 

message: This line is confusing, and needs some clarification:
* First to prove, by actual static test (emphasis added), that rocket propulsion operates in a vacuum, that it needs no air to push against, which was doubted by physicists of the time. (1915–1916)
Even though the cited NASA source says: "It was during this period that he proved his theory, by static laboratory test, that a rocket would perform in a
vacuum and was therefore capable of operating in space."
A static test means by definition, that the rocket is tested by firing it while held down on a test stand (see the several references to static testing in this article). Most such test stands are outdoors (certainly the one Goddard used had to be, as rockets were in their infancy at the time). I doubt that Goddard  tested his engine in a vacuum chamber in 1915. He must have used mathematics to deduce the vacuum thrust, possibly based on measurements, but certainly the claim was not empirically proved until the first rocket reached space (which proably would have been von Braun's V2?) JustinTime55 (talk) 12:29, 22 May 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, according to Goddard's article in September 1924 Popular Science, Goddard did fire a very small rocket in a vacuum chamber, but it is exremely misleading to call this a "static rocket test" as it is commonly understood. JustinTime55 (talk) 13:58, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

text: A recent edit removed (which was doubted by physicists of the time) from the article, with a summary that no physicist since Newton questioned it.  Do we have a WP:RS one way or the other?  But more, even if no physicist questioned it, it seems that many others did. How about scientists and engineers that were not physicists?  How about newspaper reporters?  Gah4 (talk) 07:30, 15 December 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Prove vacuum by static test? 

message: Can someone please add the coordinates of the site where Goddard launched rockets at Roswell.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2003:DF:1F25:4667:396A:FCC3:9106:2B8B (talk) 01:13, 14 March 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Coordinates of launch location at Roswell 

message: Some time ago, I was third opinion for Founding Fathers of the United States, as it seems that there is some question about who, exactly qualifies as a founding father.  Different sources say different things. Most publications don't have room for all, so report on a select few. It seems the exact same problem here. Who, exactly, should be the Founding Fathers of rocketry.  (Now there is a link, so someone can write the article.) Gah4 (talk) 03:38, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Founding Fathers of the United States]]