Scientist. He is recognized as an American physicist, who is considered the father of modern rocket propulsion. A graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a BS degree in 1908 and Clark University with Ph.D. in 1911, Robert Goddard was a great pioneer of the embryonic field of rocket science. Goddard's work combined two basic concepts: the necessity of liquid-air fuel for sustained rocket propulsion, and the principle that a rocket will provide thrust in a vacuum, which he proved empirically in 1915. In January of 1917, he was funded by the Smithsonian Institution with a five-year grant totaling $5000 and a laboratory. One of his first came November 10, 1918, when he demonstrated a prototype rocket weapon, later known as the bazooka) at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. This practical application of rocketry did not rely on either of these principles. The following year, he published his theories of rocket flight in the article "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes", which postulated that, using his principles, rockets could one day reach the moon. This paper, though scientifically sound, was ridiculed in a "New York Times" editorial, which stated that "Dr. Goddard seems to lack the knowledge of physics that is ladled out daily in high schools". Undeterred, though also largely unappreciated in his home country, Goddard continued his work; he would eventually hold 214 patents. After a long process of trial and error, he built the first working liquid-fuel rocket in 1926, then followed this with a public demonstration of a rocket carrying instruments in 1927. He patented the gyroscopic stabilizer in 1932, and finally published his successful research in 1936 after building rockets that achieved an altitude of 7,500 feet. At the outset of World War II, Goddard approached the US military about adapting his technology for weaponry, but was rebuffed. The German government took note of his work, however, and used Goddard's designs to build the V-2 rocket. This adaptation, which differed very little from Goddard's "Nell" rocket, would devastate London at the close of the war. Goddard, who had spent the war as Director of Research for the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics developing jet-assisted takeoff units, was chagrined. He would die only months later from throat cancer. In 1969, following the successful US mission to the moon using many of Goddard's theories, the "New York Times" printed a formal apology: "It is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere. "The Times" regrets the error." He received the Smithsonian's Samuel P. Langley Medal for Aerodromics in 1960 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1959. The Goddard Space Center is a major space research laboratory with NASA.