In what city was Tsiolkovsky born. Space genius. Tsiolkovsky is a scientist and philosopher of the universe. Fundamentals of jet propulsion theory

23.06.2020

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“Tsiolkovsky’s contribution to astronautics,” wrote V.P. Glushko - immeasurably great. We can safely say: almost everything that is being done now by us in this area was foreseen by a modest provincial teacher since the turn of the century.

But as noted by the role of Konstantin Eduardovich S.P. Korolev: “The most remarkable, bold and original creation of the creative mind of Tsiolkovsky is his ideas and work in the field of rocket technology. Here he has no predecessors and is far ahead of the scientists of all countries and his contemporary era.

Origin. Rod Tsiolkovsky

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky came from a Polish noble family of Tsiolkovsky (Polish. Ciołkowski) Coat of arms of Yastrzhembets.

The first mention of the belonging of the Tsiolkovskys to the nobility dates back to 1697.

According to family tradition, the Tsiolkovsky family traced its genealogy to the Cossack Severin Nalivaiko, the leader of the anti-feudal peasant-Cossack uprising in Ukraine in the 16th century.

Severin Nalivaiko

Answering the question of how the Cossack family became noble, the researcher of Tsiolkovsky's work and biography, Sergei Samoylovich, suggests that the descendants of Nalivaiko were exiled to the Plock Voivodeship, where they became related to a noble family and adopted their surname - Tsiolkovsky; this surname allegedly came from the name of the village of Tselkovo (that is, Telyatnikovo, Polish. Ciołkowo).

It is documented that the founder of the clan was a certain Maciej (Polish. Maciey, in modern Polish spelling. Maciej), who had three sons: Stanislav, Yakov (Jakub, Polish. Jakub) and Valerian, who, after the death of their father, became the owners of the villages of Velikoye Tselkovo, Maloye Tselkovo and Snegovo. The surviving record says that the landlords of the Plotsk province, the Tsiolkovsky brothers, took part in the election of the Polish king Augustus the Strong in 1697. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is a descendant of Yakov.

By the end of the 18th century, the Tsiolkovsky family was greatly impoverished. In the context of a deep crisis and the collapse of the Commonwealth, the Polish nobility also experienced hard times. In 1777, 5 years after the first partition of Poland, the great-grandfather of K. E. Tsiolkovsky Tomash (Foma) sold the Velikoye Tselkovo estate and moved to the Berdichevsky district of the Kyiv province in Right-Bank Ukraine, and then to the Zhytomyr district of the Volyn province. Many subsequent representatives of the family held small positions in the judiciary. Without any significant privileges from their nobility, they for a long time forgot about him and about their coat of arms.

On May 28, 1834, the grandfather of K. E. Tsiolkovsky, Ignatius Fomich, received certificates of "noble dignity" so that his sons, according to the laws of that time, had the opportunity to continue their education. Thus, starting with the father of K. E. Tsiolkovsky, the family regained its noble title.

Parents of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

Konstantin's father, Eduard Ignatievich Tsiolkovsky (1820-1881, full name - Makar-Eduard-Erasmus, Makary Edward Erazm). Born in the village of Korostyanin (now the Goshchansky district of the Rivne region in northwestern Ukraine). In 1841 he graduated from the Forestry and Land Survey Institute in St. Petersburg, then served as a forester in the Olonetsk and St. Petersburg provinces. In 1843 he was transferred to the Pronskoye forestry of the Spassky district of the Ryazan province. Living in the village of Izhevsk, he met his future wife Maria Ivanovna Yumasheva (1832-1870), mother of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Having Tatar roots, she was brought up in the Russian tradition. The ancestors of Maria Ivanovna under Ivan the Terrible moved to the Pskov province. Her parents, small landed nobles, also owned a cooperage and basket workshop. Maria Ivanovna was an educated woman: she graduated from high school, knew Latin, mathematics and other sciences. Almost immediately after the wedding in 1849, the Tsiolkovsky couple moved to the village of Izhevskoye, Spassky district, where they lived until 1860.

K.E. was born Tsiolkovsky on September 17, 1857 in the village of Izhevsky, Spassky district, Ryazan province, in the family of a forester.

His childhood was difficult. At the age of nine, after a complication of scarlet fever, he became deaf. A year later, my mother died. The boy stayed with his father. By nature, very shy, after the death of his mother, he became even more withdrawn into himself. Loneliness never left him. Deafness interfered with learning. Therefore, after the second grade of the Vyatka gymnasium, he had to leave.

gymnasium in Vyatka

In 1873, the father, noticing technical abilities in his son, sent a 16-year-old boy to Moscow to study. However, he failed to enter somewhere, and he continued his self-education.

Getting acquainted with this difficult period of the young Tsiolkovsky's life in Moscow, one never ceases to be amazed at his thoroughness, systematic thinking, and amazing determination. Confirmation of this is the recognition of Tsiolkovsky himself. “I took the first year carefully and systematically in the course of elementary mathematics and physics. In the second year he took up higher mathematics. I have read courses in higher algebra, differential and integral calculus, analytic geometry, spherical trigonometry, etc.” And this is at 16-17 years old! With a half-starved existence. After all, the guy ate bread and potatoes. And the money that my father sent every month was spent on books.

He spent three difficult years in Moscow. We had to decide what to do next. He returned at the request of his father to Vyatka. And again - self-education, experiments, minor inventions. In 1879, Tsiolkovsky took exams to become an elementary school teacher. And soon he became a teacher of mathematics in the county school in the city of Borovsk.

house-museum of K.E. Tsiolkovsky in Borovsk

study-workshop of K.E. Tsiolkovsky in Borovsk

August 20 - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky marries Varvara Evgrafovna Sokolova. The young couple begins to live separately and the young scientist continues physical experiments and technical creativity. Electric lightning flashes in Tsiolkovsky's house, thunder rumbles, bells ring, paper dolls dance. Visitors were also amazed at the "electric octopus", which grabbed each one with its own legs by the nose or by the fingers, and then the hair of the one that got into its "paws" stood on end and sparks jumped out of any part of the body. A rubber bag was inflated with hydrogen and carefully balanced with a paper boat filled with sand. As if alive, he wandered from room to room, following the air currents, rising and falling.

K.Ya. Tsiolkovsky with family

And after 12 years of living in Borovsk, he moved to Kaluga.

In this city he lived the rest of his life, in it he wrote his main works, made the greatest discoveries.

house-museum of K.E. Tsiolkovsky in Kaluga

Even in his youth, he had an idea: is it possible for a person to rise into the stratosphere? He is thinking about an aircraft for such a flight and for several years has been creating a controlled all-metal airship.

Model of corrugated metal balloon shell(house-museum of K.E. Tsiolkovsky in Borovsk)

Tsiolkovsky publishes his theoretical justifications and calculations in the book Controlled Metal Balloon, which was published in 1892. This work contained many valuable ideas.

First of all, it was valuable for one of the most important discoveries: the scientist was the first to develop a device and a regulator of a stable axis direction, that is, a prototype of a modern autopilot.

Konstantin Eduardovich was and for a long time remained a staunch supporter of an all-metal balloon. Being mistaken about the advantageous prospects of airships over apparatuses heavier than air, he nevertheless studied the theory of the aircraft. In 1894, he wrote the article "Airplane, or Bird-like (Aircraft) Flying Machine". He is interested in everything related to an airplane: what is the role of speed for it and what engines can give it speed; what should be the flight control rudders and the most advantageous forms of the aircraft. “It is necessary to give the apparatus,” he wrote, “as sharp and smooth a shape as possible (as in birds and fish) and not to give wings of very large sizes so as not to excessively increase the friction and resistance of the environment.”

Since 1896, he has been seriously working on the theory of jet propulsion. “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 do the calculations related to the rocket. It seems to me that the first seeds - thoughts - were born by the famous dreamer Jules Verne, he awakened the work of my brain.
So rocket. And why did the scientist do it? Yes, because, according to Tsiolkovsky, she is destined to overcome the gravity of the Earth and escape into space. After all, neither an airship, nor an artillery shell, nor an airplane can do this. Only a rocket is able to provide the speed necessary to break the earth's gravity. It also solves another problem: rocket fuel. Powder? No. Too much of it would be required to travel to interplanetary space. And how would this adversely affect the weight of the spacecraft. And what if gunpowder is replaced with liquid fuel?

After painstaking calculations, formulas, the conclusion is that liquid fuel engines are needed for space flights ... He outlined all this in his work “Investigation of the World Spaces with Jet Instruments”, published in 1903. By the way, the scientist not only outlined the theoretical foundations of the rocket, not only substantiated the possibility of its use for interplanetary communications, but also described this rocket ship: “Imagine such a projectile: a metal oblong chamber (forms of least resistance), supplied with light, oxygen, carbon dioxide absorber , miasma and other animal secretions, is intended not only for storing various physical devices, but also for a rational being controlling the chamber. The chamber has a large supply of substances, which, when mixed, immediately form an explosive mass. These substances, exploding correctly and fairly evenly in a place determined for this, flow in the form of hot gases through pipes expanding towards the end, like a horn or a wind musical instrument. The fuel was hydrogen, and liquid oxygen served as the oxidizer. The rocket was controlled by gas graphite rudders.

Years later, he again and again returned to the work "Research of world spaces with jet devices." Publishes the second and third parts of it. In them, he develops further his theoretical views on the use of a rocket for interplanetary flights, rethinks what he wrote earlier. The scientist reaffirms that only a rocket is suitable for space flight. Moreover, the spacecraft-rocket must be placed on another rocket, the earth, or invested in it. The terrestrial rocket, without leaving the surface, informs it of the desired takeoff run. In other words, Tsiolkovsky put forward the idea of space rocket trains.

Composite rockets were also offered before Tsiolkovsky. He was the first to mathematically accurately and in detail study the problem of achieving high cosmic velocities with the help of rockets, substantiated the reality of its solution with the existing level of technology. This idea is now implemented in multi-stage space launch vehicles.

The bold, daring flight of Tsiolkovsky's thoughts was taken by many around him as the delirium of an unbalanced mind. Of course, he had friends N.E. Zhukovsky, D.I. Mendeleev, A.G. Stoletov and others. They passionately supported the ideas of the scientist. But these were only individual voices that were drowning in a sea of distrust, hostility and mocking attitude of official representatives of the scientific community of that time. The smartest man, Konstantin Eduardovich, deeply experienced such an attitude towards him.

The theory of jet propulsion was also developed by foreign scientists contemporaries of Tsiolkovsky - the Frenchman Esno-Peltri, the German Gobert and others. They published their works in 1913-1923, that is, much later than Konstantin Eduardovich.

In the 1920s, reports appeared in European publications about the work of Hermann Oberth. In them, he came to similar conclusions as Tsiolkovsky, but much later. Nevertheless, his articles did not even mention the name of the Russian scientist.

Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Peltri Herman Julius Oberth

Chairman of the Association of Naturalists Professor A.P. Modestov spoke in the press in defense of Tsiolkovsky's priority. He named the works of Konstantin Eduardovich, published earlier than the works of foreign colleagues, cited reviews of famous domestic scientists on the work of Tsiolkovsky. "Printing these certificates, the Presidium of the All-Russian Association of Naturalists aims to restore Tsiolkovsky's priority in developing the issue of a rocket device (rocket) for extra-atmospheric and interplanetary spaces." And when Tsiolkovsky's new book "Rocket in Outer Space" came out the following year, Oberth, after reading it, wrote to him: "You have lit the fire, and we will not let it go out, but we will make every effort to make the great dream of mankind come true."

The priority of the Russian scientist was also recognized by the German Society for Interplanetary Communications. On the day of the 75th anniversary of Konstantin Eduardovich, the Germans turned to him with a greeting. “From the day of its foundation, the Society for Interplanetary Communications has always considered you one of its spiritual leaders and has never missed an opportunity to point out orally and in print to your high merits and to your undeniable priority in the scientific development of our great idea.”

family of K.E. Tsiolkovsky in Kaluga

Undoubtedly, Tsiolkovsky's contribution to space science is colossal. But the letters of Konstantin Eduardovich, his support, approval, attention were very important for young scientists, designers, engineers. Among those novice designers who were supported by the great scientist was the young S.P. Korolev. He visited Tsiolkovsky, talked with him for a long time, listened to his advice. It was the meeting with Tsiolkovsky, according to Korolev, that played a decisive role in the direction of his activities.

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky and Sergei Pavlovich Korolev

September 19, 1935 Tsiolkovsky died. They called him a dreamer. Yes, he was a dreamer in the highest sense of the word. Many of his dreams have already come true, many will certainly become a reality in the future.

Speaking about the contribution of Tsiolkovsky to space science, we regularly use the word - the first. He was the first to substantiate the possibility of providing space velocity by a rocket, the first to solve the problem of landing a spacecraft on the surface of non-atmospheric planets. He was the first scientist to put forward the idea of an artificial satellite of the Earth.

Tsiolkovsky left more than 450 manuscripts of scientific, popular science and educational works, thousands of letters to his colleagues and like-minded people, some of which he planned to publish. His legacy is invaluable. Not everything from the archive of Konstantin Eduardovich has been published to this day. According to experts, only one third of the archive has been studied.

Model of a rocket designed by Tsiolkovsky. State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics

monument in Moscow

in Dolgoprudny

monument to K.E. Tsiolkovsky in Borovsk

K.E. Tsiolkovsky in Kaluga

medal of K.E. Tsiolkovsky

spaceship “K.E. Tsiolkovsky "

September 17, 2012 - 155 years since the birth of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky(1857 - September 19, 1935) - an outstanding Russian scientist, the founder of modern cosmonautics, as well as a philosopher, a prominent representative of the school of Russian cosmism.

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky was born on September 5 (17), 1857 in the village of Izhevsk near Ryazan. He was baptized in St. Nicholas Church. The name Konstantin was completely new in the Tsiolkovsky family, it was given by the name of the priest who baptized the baby.

It is documented that the founder of the clan was a certain Maciej (Polish Maciey, in modern Polish spelling Maciej), who had three sons: Stanislav, Yakov (Jakub, Polish Jakub) and Valerian, who became owners of the villages of Velikoye Tselkovo after the death of their father, Small Tselkovo and Snegovo. The surviving record says that the landowners of the Plotsk province, the Tsiolkovsky brothers, took part in the election of the Polish king Augustus the Strong in 1697. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is a descendant of Yakov.

Father, Eduard Ignatievich Tsiolkovsky. Konstantin wrote about his father this way: “He looked gloomy. He rarely laughed. We were afraid of him, although he never allowed himself to be sarcastic, or swear, let alone fight.
Was the father knowledgeable? By that time, his education was not lower than the surrounding society, although, as the son of a poor man, he knew almost no languages and read only Polish newspapers. In his youth he was an atheist, but in his old age he sometimes visited the church with my sister. However, he was far from any clergy."

Mother, Maria Ivanovna Yumasheva. About his mother, Maria Ivanovna Yumasheva, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky wrote in his autobiography "Features from My Life": "Mother had Tatar ancestors and bore a Tatar surname as a girl", "she was above average height, brown-haired, with regular, although slightly Tatar features ..."

Maria Yumasheva and Eduard Tsiolkovsky got married when she was only 16 years old. The groom was 10 years older than the bride. According to the son, they "loved each other very much, but did not express it." They had 13 children in total.

Almost immediately after the wedding in 1849, the Tsiolkovsky couple moved to the village of Izhevskoye in the Spassky district, where they lived until 1860.

At the age of nine, Kostya, sledding in the winter, caught a cold and fell ill with scarlet fever. As a result of a complication after an illness, he lost his hearing. Then came what later Konstantin Eduardovich called "the saddest, darkest time of my life." Hearing loss deprived the boy of many childhood amusements and impressions familiar to his healthy peers.

At this time, Kostya for the first time begins to show interest in craftsmanship. “I liked to make puppet skates, houses, sleds, clocks with weights, etc. All this was made of paper and cardboard and connected with sealing wax,” he will write later.

Kostya Tsiolkovsky, Ryazan, 1863 or 1864

In 1868, the land surveying and taxation classes were closed, and Eduard Ignatievich again lost his job. The next move was to Vyatka, where there was a large Polish community and two brothers lived with the father of the family, who, probably, helped him get the post of head of the Forest Department.

Vyatka is unforgettable for me… My conscious life began there. When our family moved there from Ryazan, I thought that it was a dirty, deaf, gray town, bears walk the streets, but it turned out that this provincial city is no worse, but in some ways, its library, for example, is better than Ryazan.

Tsiolkovsky about life on Vyatka

In Vyatka, the Tsiolkovsky family lived in the house of the merchant Shuravin on Preobrazhenskaya Street.

Vyatka. Shuravin's house, where the Tsiolkovsky family lived in 1869 - 1878

In 1869, Kostya, together with his younger brother Ignatius, entered the first class of the male Vyatka gymnasium. The study was given with great difficulty, there were many subjects, the teachers were strict. Deafness was very disturbing: “I didn’t hear the teacher at all or heard only obscure sounds.”

In the same year, sad news came from St. Petersburg - the elder brother Dmitry, who studied at the Naval School, died. This death shocked the whole family, but especially Maria Ivanovna. In 1870, Kostya's mother, whom he dearly loved, died unexpectedly.

It was at this time that Konstantin Tsiolkovsky found his true calling and place in life. He is educating himself. Unlike gymnasium teachers, books generously endow him with knowledge and never make the slightest reproach.

At the same time, Kostya joined the technical and scientific creativity. He independently made an astrolabe (the first distance measured by her was to the fire tower), a home lathe, self-propelled carriages and locomotives. The devices were driven by coil springs, which Konstantin extracted from old crinolines bought on the market. He was fond of tricks and made various boxes in which objects appeared and disappeared. Experiments with a paper model of a balloon filled with hydrogen ended in failure, but Konstantin does not despair, continues to work on the model, thinks about the project of a car with wings.

Believing in his son's abilities, in July 1873, Eduard Ignatievich decided to send Konstantin to Moscow to enter the Higher Technical School (now Bauman Moscow State Technical University), providing him with a cover letter to his friend asking him to help him get settled. However, Konstantin lost the letter and remembered only the address: Nemetskaya Street (now Baumanskaya Street). Having reached her, the young man rented a room in the laundress's apartment.

However, having arrived in Moscow, he did not begin to do anything: “What could I do there with my deafness! What connections to make? Without knowledge of life, I was blind in relation to career and earnings. He ate only black bread, didn't even have potatoes or tea, but bought books, pipes, mercury, sulfuric acid, and so on.
I remember very well that there was nothing but water and black bread. Every three days I went to the bakery and bought there for 9 kopecks. of bread. Thus, I lived 90 kopecks. per month."

In Moscow, Tsiolkovsky independently studied various sciences, going to the then only free library - Chertkovskaya. Every day from ten in the morning until three or four in the afternoon, the young man studies science there. For three years, Konstantin fully mastered the gymnasium program, as well as a significant part of the university one.

But, says Tsiolkovsky, "nevertheless, under these conditions, I did not escape love." And in his still unpublished autobiography "Fatum. Fate. Rock" clarifies: "Love was super-platonic." Olga was the daughter of a millionaire.

According to Tsiolkovsky's biographer Valery Demin, the girl lived as a recluse, under the vigilant supervision of strict parents. Reading was her main occupation. About a wonderful young man who turned his room into a fabulous laboratory, Olga was told by the owner of the apartment where he lived (she entered the house of Olga's parents, washed them, and later became the "postman" of lovers). A sublime image of a young hermit arose in the girl's imagination - she decided to write to him. In a secret message, she asked if it was true that he was making a car on which he was going to take to the sky (he really conjured over the car in the evenings)
A long epistolary romance began between them. In letters they talked about stars, space and flights. A lonely deaf young man shared with her his innermost ideas. He told me that he had come up with a machine that would be able to get off the ground, about rings of asteroids on which solar power plants would stand, about interplanetary flights.

Among other things, in one of his letters, he confessed to her the following: "You have no idea, but I am such a great person, which has never been, and never will be." An interesting detail for understanding the character of the young Tsiolkovsky. “My maiden laughed at this in her letter,” the already adult Tsiolkovsky frankly writes in “Features of my Life.” “And now I am ashamed to recall these words. But what self-confidence, what courage, bearing in mind the miserable data that I contained in itself!"

In the end, the girl's parents found out about the correspondence and told her to say goodbye to the young man, about which Olga wrote to Kostya. They never met. "I have never seen a correspondent, but this did not prevent me from falling in love and suffering for a short time," writes Tsiolkovsky.

Then he decided that love was not for him, because emotions only complicate life. It is possible that Tsiolkovsky's philosophizing began with this first sad literary and dramatic novel, which later took shape in a coherent system. Reasoning logically, he eventually came to the conclusion that a person in the course of evolution will come to a new existence without feelings and will turn into pure rational energy - a "radiant person". For himself, Konstantin determined that if he marries, then only a girl who will not interfere with his scientific research, without any love.

K.E. Tsiolkovsky. 1909 Photo by S. Adamovich. From the GMIK collection

Unfortunately, his father was no longer able to pay for his accommodation in Moscow, and besides, he felt unwell and was going to retire. With the knowledge gained, Konstantin could well begin independent work in the provinces, as well as continue his education outside of Moscow. In the autumn of 1876, Eduard Ignatievich called his son back to Vyatka, and Konstantin returned home. Konstantin returned to Vyatka weakened, emaciated and emaciated. Difficult living conditions in Moscow, hard work also led to a deterioration in vision. After returning home, Tsiolkovsky began to wear glasses. Having regained his strength, Konstantin began to give private lessons in physics and mathematics. I learned my first lesson through my father's connections in a liberal society. Having shown himself to be a talented teacher, in the future he had no shortage of students.

At the end of 1876, Konstantin's younger brother Ignatius died. The brothers were very close from childhood, Konstantin trusted Ignatius with his innermost thoughts, and the death of his brother was a heavy blow.

By 1877, Eduard Ignatievich was already very weak and ill, the tragic death of his wife and children had an effect (except for the sons of Dmitry and Ignatius, during these years the Tsiolkovskys lost their youngest daughter - Catherine - she died in 1875, during the absence of Konstantin), the head of the family left resign. In 1878 the entire Tsiolkovsky family returned to Ryazan.

Upon returning to Ryazan, the family lived on Sadovaya Street. Immediately after his arrival, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky underwent a medical examination and was released from military service due to deafness. The family was supposed to buy a house and live on the income from it, but the unforeseen happened - Konstantin quarreled with his father: Konstantin lost the glass from his father's microscope without telling his father anything. He gave the microscope to a friend, whom he later blamed for the loss. When everything was revealed, the father and son quarreled to such an extent that the son decided to live separately

As a result, Konstantin rented a separate room from the employee Palkin and was forced to look for other means of subsistence, since his personal savings accumulated from private lessons in Vyatka were coming to an end, and in Ryazan an unknown tutor could not find students without recommendations.

To continue working as a teacher, a certain, documented qualification was required. In the autumn of 1879, at the First Provincial Gymnasium, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky took an external exam for a county mathematics teacher. As a "self-taught", he had to take a "full" exam - not only the subject itself, but also grammar, catechism, worship and other compulsory disciplines. Tsiolkovsky was never interested in these subjects and did not study them, but he managed to prepare himself in a short time.

Having successfully passed the exam, Tsiolkovsky received a referral from the Ministry of Education to Borovsk, located 100 kilometers from Moscow, to his first public position and in January 1880 left Ryazan.

In Borovsk, the unofficial capital of the Old Believers, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky lived and taught for 12 years, started a family, made several friends, and wrote his first scientific works. At this time, his contacts with the Russian scientific community began, the first publications were published.

Upon arrival, Tsiolkovsky stayed in hotel rooms on the central square of the city. After a long search for more comfortable housing, he rented two rooms in the house of a widower, a priest of the Edinoverie Church Evgraf Yegorovich Sokolov.

A.I. Kotelnikov. Borovsk. The house where the Tsiolkovskys lived. Pencil, retouch. 1961 - 1962 From the GMIK collection

"According to the instructions of the inhabitants, I got bread to a widower with his daughter, who lived on the outskirts of the city, near the river. They gave me two rooms and a table of soup and porridge. I was pleased and lived here for a long time. The owner, a wonderful man, but drank cruelly. over tea, lunch or dinner with his daughter. I was amazed at her understanding of the gospel."

Sokolov's daughter Varya was the same age as Tsiolkovsky - two months younger than him. Konstantin Eduardovich liked her character, and they soon got married. Varenka Sokolova was also struck by her fiancé by the fact that he was going to write his own version of the life of Christ. Konstantin never told her about love and always claimed that the marriage was according to reason:

“It was time to get married, and I married her without love, hoping that such a wife would not twirl me, would work and would not prevent me from doing the same. This hope was fully justified. Such a friend could not exhaust my strength either: firstly ", did not attract me, secondly, and she herself was indifferent and impassive. I had an innate asceticism, and I helped him in every possible way. My wife and I always and all our lives slept in separate rooms, sometimes through the hallway. So she, to a deep old age has retained strength and ability for mental activity.She reads a lot even now (77 years old).
Was it good: a married life without love? Is respect enough in a marriage?
For those who have given themselves to higher goals, this is good. But he sacrifices his own happiness and even the happiness of his family. I did not understand the latter at the time. But then it showed up. From such marriages, children are not healthy, successful and joyful, and all my life I lamented the tragic fate of children. In addition, marriage without passion is not stable. His wife is satisfied with the children and somehow keeps her balance. The husband cannot be so absorbed in the family. An unsatisfied heart always pulls to the side. Pity for the children and for the innocent wife still keeps some from a disastrous break for them. The same was with me. Keep that in mind young people! An academic marriage will hardly make you great, but it will probably make you unhappy."

Tsiolkovsky's wife - Varvara Evgrafovna Tsiolkovsky (Sokolova)

“We went to get married four miles away, on foot, we didn’t dress up, we didn’t let anyone into the church. We returned, and no one knew anything about our marriage. For a long time, almost from the age of sixteen, I theoretically broke with all the absurdities of religion. a neighbor had a lathe and cut glass for electrical machines. I attached only practical importance to marriage. "

And here is another confession characteristic of Tsiolkovsky: "Before marriage and after it, I did not know a single woman, except for my wife. I am ashamed to be intimate, but I cannot lie. I am talking about bad and good."

In the marriage of Tsiolkovsky and Varvara Evgrafovna, seven children were born. Tsiolkovsky's biographer S. Blinkov writes: "The psychopathy of the schizoid character of his wife adversely affected some children. Konstantin Eduardovich himself used to say that" he chose his wife unsuccessfully and this made the children sad. "Two sons - Alexander and Ignatius - were distinguished by strange behavior, suffered from suicidal ideas (an obsessive craving for suicide), which, alas, they realized. Nevertheless, among the children there were also capable of literature, technology, mathematics, music, drawing.

Even before his marriage, Tsiolkovsky set conditions for Varvara Evgrafovna, the fulfillment of which, in spite of everything, he firmly demanded throughout his life: the wife should not have guests; relatives do not visit them; there should not be the slightest fuss in the house that could interfere with classes. Despite his deafness, Tsiolkovsky could work only in absolute silence. The family was constantly in trouble because of the noise that the children made. Polite and delicate with everyone, Konstantin Eduardovich at home often got unfairly annoyed, shouted, did not tolerate excuses.
Tsiolkovsky, despite his marriage to the daughter of a priest, was an atheist, like his father. The relatives of Varvara Evgrafovna agreed to her marriage to an atheist only because she was a dowry and Tsiolkovsky was the only one who did not care at all about this fact.
Tsiolkovsky's careless statements about Christ once almost cost him his teacher's place. Tsiolkovsky had to spend a lot of money to go to Kaluga and explain himself to his superiors.

In January of the year following the wedding in Ryazan, the father of Konstantin Eduardovich died.

Tsiolkovsky received 27 rubles a month. This would be enough for a comfortable life, but a significant part of this money was spent on scientific experiments.

In the Borovsky district school, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky continued to improve as a teacher: he taught arithmetic and geometry outside the box, came up with exciting problems and set amazing experiments, especially for Borovsky boys. Several times he launched with his students a huge paper balloon with a “gondola”, in which there were burning torches, to heat the air. One day the balloon flew away and it almost set the city on fire.
Sometimes Tsiolkovsky had to replace other teachers and teach drawing, drawing, history, geography, and once even replace the superintendent of the school.

After classes at the school and on weekends, Tsiolkovsky continued his research at home: he worked on manuscripts, made drawings, and experimented. Electric lightning flashes in his house, thunders rumble, bells ring, paper dolls dance.

In Borovsk, four children were born to the Tsiolkovskys: the eldest daughter Lyubov (1881) and sons Ignatius (1883), Alexander (1885) and Ivan (1888). The Tsiolkovskys lived in poverty, but, according to the scientist himself, "they did not go in patches and never went hungry." Konstantin Eduardovich spent most of his salary on books, physical and chemical devices, tools, and reagents.

During the years of living in Borovsk, the family was forced to change their place of residence several times - in the fall of 1883, they moved to Kaluzhskaya Street to the house of the ram hunter Baranov. From the spring of 1885 they lived in the house of Kovalev (on the same Kaluga street).

On April 23, 1887, on the day Tsiolkovsky returned from Moscow, where he made a report on a metal airship of his own design, a fire broke out in his house, in which manuscripts, models, drawings, a library, as well as all the property of the Tsiolkovskys were lost, with the exception of a sewing machine, which managed to be thrown through the window into the courtyard. It was a hard blow for Konstantin Eduardovich, he expressed his thoughts and feelings in the manuscript "Prayer" (May 15, 1887).

The next move to the house of M. I. Polukhina on Krugloya Street. On April 1, 1889, Protva overflowed, and the Tsiolkovskys' house was flooded. Records and books suffered again.

Since the autumn of 1889, the Tsiolkovskys lived in the house of the Molchanov merchants at the address: Molchanovskaya street, house 4

For the majority of colleagues and residents of the city, Tsiolkovsky was an eccentric. At the school, he never took a “tribute” from negligent students, did not give paid additional lessons, had his own opinion on all issues, did not take part in feasts and parties, and he never celebrated anything, kept apart, was unsociable and unsociable. For all these "oddities", his colleagues nicknamed him Zhelyabka and "were suspected of what was not." The inhabitants of Borovsk also did not understand Tsiolkovsky and shunned him, laughed at him, some even feared him, called him a "crazy inventor." The eccentricities of Tsiolkovsky, his way of life, which was radically different from the way of life of the inhabitants of Borovsk, often caused bewilderment and irritation.

Tsiolkovsky, being a nobleman, was a member of the Noble Assembly of Borovsk, gave private lessons to the children of the Leader of the local nobility, State Councilor D. Ya. Kurnosov. Thanks to this acquaintance, as well as success in teaching, Tsiolkovsky received the rank of provincial secretary (August 31, 1884), then collegiate secretary (November 8, 1885), titular adviser (December 23, 1886). January 10, 1889 Tsiolkovsky received the rank of collegiate assessor.

In 1883, Tsiolkovsky wrote his first works: The Theory of Gases, The Mechanics of the Animal Organism, and The Duration of the Radiation of the Sun. He presented them to the St. Petersburg Physical and Chemical Society and soon received favorable reviews from such well-known scientists as I. M. Sechenov and A. G. Stoletov. Tsiolkovsky is unanimously elected a member of the physicochemical society. However, Konstantin Eduardovich did not respond to this election, explaining his act in his autobiography as follows: "naive savagery and inexperience." In 1887, Tsiolkovsky again acted strangely with the opportunity that opened up before him. The scientist Golubitsky invited Tsiolkovsky to go to Moscow and meet with the famous Sofia Kovalevskaya, the world's first female professor of mathematics, who wished to meet Tsiolkovsky. Konstantin Eduardovich did not dare to take such a step: "My wretchedness and the resulting savagery prevented me from doing this. I did not go. Maybe this is for the best." Nevertheless, Tsiolkovsky still went to Moscow to meet with the famous scientist Stoletov. In Moscow, Tsiolkovsky spoke at the Polytechnic Museum. They promised to arrange a young scientist in Moscow, but they never did, and he returned to Borovsk, where he continued his experiments and experiments: “I always started something. There was a river nearby. The sledge was supposed to race on the ice. Everything was finished, but for some reason the test of the machine did not take place. I doubted the expediency of its design.
Then I replaced this structure with a special sailing chair. Peasants traveled along the river. The horses were frightened by the rushing sail, the visitors cursed with obscene voices. But due to my deafness, I didn’t think about it for a long time. Then, seeing the horse, he hastily removed the sail in advance. "But the most important project of those years was for Tsiolkovsky a metal balloon (airship). The balloons with rubberized fabric shells used at that time had significant drawbacks - the fabric wore out quickly, the service life of the balloons was short In addition, due to the permeability of the fabric, hydrogen, which was then filled with balloons, escaped, and air penetrated into the shell. An explosive gas (hydrogen + air) was formed, an accidental spark was enough, and an explosion occurred. Tsiolkovsky's airship was fundamentally new:
Firstly, the volume of the shell was variable, which made it possible to maintain a constant lifting force at different flight altitudes and temperatures of the atmospheric air surrounding the airship. This possibility was achieved due to corrugated sidewalls and a special tightening system.
Secondly, Tsiolkovsky left the use of explosive hydrogen, his airship was filled with hot air. The height of the airship could be adjusted using a separately developed heating system. The air was heated by passing the exhaust gases of the motors through the coils.
Thirdly, the thin metal shell was also corrugated, which made it possible to increase its strength and stability.
Tsiolkovsky asked scientists to allocate 300 rubles for the construction of an airship, but no one gave him money. Konstantin Eduardovich makes small models of balloon shells (30x50 cm) from corrugated metal and wire models of the frame (30x15 cm) at his own expense to prove, including to himself, the possibility of using metal.

Tsiolkovsky and models of airships designed by him (1913)

In 1887, Tsiolkovsky wrote a short story "On the Moon" - his first science fiction work, which describes the sensations of a man who landed on the moon. Almost all the assumptions made in this work were subsequently confirmed by observations.
However, the scientist also had major miscalculations. For example, due to isolation from the scientific world, he rediscovered the kinetic theory of gases, sending it to Mendeleev, to which he replied in bewilderment: the kinetic theory of gases was discovered 25 years ago. Due to the excessive independence of thinking, Tsiolkovsky preferred to independently deduce formulas long ago derived by others, spending a lot of valuable time on this until the end of his life.
in 1893, Tsiolkovsky published the work "Gravity as a source of world energy", where, using the erroneous theory of compression developed by Helmholtz (1853) and Kelvin ("Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism"), he tried to calculate the age of the Sun, determining the age of the star at 12 million years and predicting that in 7.5 million years the Sun will go out, since its density will reach the density of the planet (Earth). Modern science puts the age of the Sun at 4.59 billion years, saying it will shine and support life on Earth for at least another 1 billion years.
Tsiolkovsky did not accept Einstein's theory of relativity, saying that pointing to the limitedness of the Universe and the limited speed in the Universe by the speed of light is the same as limiting the creation of the world to six days. Tsiolkovsky also rejected the idea of time relativity: "The slowdown of time in ships flying at subluminal speed compared to terrestrial time is either a fantasy or one of the regular mistakes of a non-philosophical mind. ... Time slowdown! Understand what wild nonsense lies in these words!"

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky at the age of 43

On January 27, 1892, the director of public schools, D.S. Unkovsky, turned to the trustee of the Moscow educational district with a request to transfer "one of the most capable and diligent teachers" to the district school of the city of Kaluga. At this time, Tsiolkovsky continued his work on aerodynamics and the theory of vortices in various media, and also expected the publication of the book "Metal Controlled Balloon" in a Moscow printing house. The decision to transfer was made on February 4th. In addition to Tsiolkovsky, teachers moved from Borovsk to Kaluga: S. I. Chertkov, E. S. Eremeev, I. A. Kazansky, doctor V. N. Ergolsky
Tsiolkovsky lived in Kaluga for the rest of his life.

In Kaluga, the Tsiolkovskys had a son and two daughters. At the same time, it was here that the Tsiolkovskys had to endure the tragic death of many of their children: of the seven children of K.E. Tsiolkovsky, five died during his lifetime.

Monument to Tsiolkovsky in Kaluga. In 1902 Tsiolkovsky bought a bicycle. Cycling soon became a habit for him, which he followed for the rest of his life.

In Kaluga, Tsiolkovsky met the scientists A. L. Chizhevsky and Ya. I. Perelman, who became his friends and popularizers of his ideas, and later biographers.

The Tsiolkovsky family arrived in Kaluga on February 4, settled in an apartment in the house of N. I. Timashova on Georgievskaya Street, rented in advance for them by E. S. Eremeev. Since 1892, Konstantin Eduardovich began to teach arithmetic and geometry at the Kaluga district school. Since 1899, he taught physics at the diocesan women's school, disbanded after the October Revolution. “The school was just right for my disability, for the supervision was excellent. Due to my deafness, I myself could not keep order. I explained more than I asked, but asked while standing. The girl stood next to me at my left ear. I could conscientiously listen and evaluate knowledge. Subsequently, I arranged for myself a special auditory tube, but then it did not exist. Microphone devices were sent out bad, and I did not use them. "

Soon after his arrival, Tsiolkovsky met Vasily Assonov, a tax inspector, an educated, progressive, versatile person, fond of mathematics, mechanics and painting. After reading the first part of Tsiolkovsky's book Controlled Metal Balloon, Assonov used his influence to organize a subscription to the second part of this work. This made it possible to collect the missing funds for its publication.

On August 8, 1892, the Tsiolkovskys had a son, Leonty, who died of whooping cough exactly one year later, on the first day of his birth. At that time, there were holidays at the school and Tsiolkovsky spent the whole summer in the Sokolniki estate of the Maloyaroslavets district with his old friend D. Ya. Kurnosov (leader of the Borovsk nobility), where he gave lessons to his children. After the death of the child, Varvara Evgrafovna decided to change her apartment, and by the time Konstantin Eduardovich returned, the family moved to the Speransky house, located opposite, on the same street.

Assonov introduced Tsiolkovsky to the chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod circle of lovers of physics and astronomy, S. V. Shcherbakov. December 13, 1893 Konstantin Eduardovich was elected an honorary member of the circle.

K.E. Tsiolkovsky (standing second from left) in a group of teachers of the district school. Kaluga. 1897-1898. Photo from the funds of the State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics (Kaluga).

In February 1894, Tsiolkovsky wrote the work "Airplane or Bird-like (Aircraft) Machine", continuing the theme begun in the article "On the Question of Flying with Wings" (1891). In it, among other things, Tsiolkovsky gave a diagram of the aerodynamic balances he designed. The current model of the "turntable" was demonstrated by N. E. Zhukovsky in Moscow, at the Mechanical Exhibition held in January of this year

The Tsiolkovsky family near Breev's house on Lebedyantsevskaya street. 1902 Photography. From the GMIK collection

In Kaluga, Tsiolkovsky also did not forget about science, about astronautics and aeronautics. He built a special installation, which made it possible to measure some of the aerodynamic parameters of aircraft. Since the Physico-Chemical Society did not allocate a penny for his experiments, the scientist had to use family funds to conduct research. By the way, Tsiolkovsky built more than 100 experimental models at his own expense and tested them. After some time, the society nevertheless drew attention to the Kaluga genius and allocated him financial support - 470 rubles, for which Tsiolkovsky built a new, improved installation - the "blower".

The study of the aerodynamic properties of bodies of various shapes and possible schemes of airborne vehicles gradually led Tsiolkovsky to think about the options for flight in a vacuum and the conquest of space. In 1895, his book "Dreams of the Earth and Sky" was published, and a year later an article was published about other worlds, intelligent beings from other planets and about the communication of earthlings with them. In the same year, in 1896, Tsiolkovsky began to write his main work, The Study of World Spaces with Reactive Devices, published in 1903. This book touched upon the problems of using rockets in space.

In 1896-1898, the scientist took part in the newspaper "Kaluga Vestnik", which published both the materials of Tsiolokovsky himself and articles about him.

The first fifteen years of the 20th century were the most difficult in the life of a scientist. In 1902 his son Ignatius committed suicide.

Ignatius Tsiolkovsky, Moscow student of tragic fate.

The Tsiolkovsky family

Teacher Tsiolkovsky with his wife Varvara Evgrafovna and daughters Maria (left) and Anna

In 1904 Tsiolkovsky bought a small house with three rooms. An attic was built over the house; the barn that stood in the yard served as the material for it. In the attic, Tsiolkovsky arranged a workshop and a small study. Here, in the holy of holies of the whole house, where the things of Konstantin Eduardovich were kept and where he studied and slept, none of the family members dared to enter unless absolutely necessary.

In 1903, Tsiolkovsky published an article entitled "Investigation of World Spaces with Reactive Devices", where he proved for the first time that a rocket is a device capable of making a space flight. In this article and its subsequent continuations (1911 and 1914), he developed some ideas of the theory of rockets and the use of a liquid rocket engine. Tsiolkovsky calculates the work to overcome the force of gravity, determines the speed required for the apparatus to enter the solar system ("second cosmic velocity") and the flight time.

Children of K.E. Tsiolkovsky near the house number 61 on the street. Korovinskaya, 1909. Photo by K.E. Tsiolkovsky. From the GMIK collection

In 1908, during the flood of the Oka, his house was flooded, many cars, exhibits were disabled, and numerous unique calculations were lost.

K.E. Tsiolkovsky (in the first row, second from the left) in a group of members of the Kaluga branch of the "Bulletin of Knowledge" society. 1913 Photo by V. Buldygin. From the GMIK collection

Despite the flight from feelings, Tsiolkovsky often fell in love. “I have a very passionate nature, a happy appearance. I was drawn to women, I constantly fell in love (which did not prevent me from maintaining an unpolluted, unstained external chastity). Despite reciprocity, the novels were of the most platonic nature, and I, in essence, never violated chastity (they lasted all his life until the age of sixty).

In his memoirs, he himself admits that he truly loved only twice. And the second great love came to him in 1914, when Tsiolkovsky was already 57 years old. Valentina Georgievna Ivanova was almost 30 years younger than Tsiolkovsky. They met in the house of her sister, whose husband was a friend of Tsiolkovsky. Valentina was not only pretty, but smart and educated, writes her sister Lydia Canning in her memoirs Kaluga Friends.

She becomes his friend and helper. "Tsiolkovsky corresponded with foreign scientists, but did not know foreign languages. All this correspondence, at the request of Konstantin Eduardovich, was conducted in French by my sister," Lydia writes. He falls madly in love with her. But he doesn't let his feelings take over. Five years later, in his autobiography, he will write only two lines about Valentina Ivanova: "1914. War. Need and its horrors. The beginning of love. A lesson in love."

“This marriage was also a fate and a great engine,” writes the old scholar in his memoirs “Fatum. Fate. Rock." - I, so to speak, put terrible chains on myself. I was not deceived in my wife. The children were angels, like my wife. " But only their love was not enough for him. He longed for adoration, admiration, admiration for beautiful women. “To the eternal humiliation of deafness, a continuously acting unsatisfied heart feeling joined,” he admits. “These two forces drove me in life, as they could not drive any invented, artificial or pedagogical means.”
The meeting with Valentina showed how wrong were the conclusions to which he came after the affair with Olga. "The sexual feeling of heartfelt dissatisfaction - the strongest of all passions - made my mind and strength strain and seek," he admitted. "I did not know a single woman except my wife, but there was no main thing between us - simple passionate human love"

On June 5, 1919, the Council of the Russian Society of World Studies Lovers accepted K. E. Tsiolkovsky as a member, and he, as a member of the scientific society, was granted a pension. This saved him from starvation during the years of devastation, since on June 30, 1919, the Socialist Academy did not elect him as a member and thus left him without a livelihood. The Physicochemical Society also did not appreciate the significance and revolutionary nature of the models presented by Tsiolkovsky. In 1923, his second son, Alexander, took his own life.

On November 17, 1919, five people raided the Tsiolkovskys' house. After searching the house, they took the head of the family and brought him to Moscow, where they put him in a prison on Lubyanka. There he was interrogated for several weeks. According to some reports, a certain high-ranking person interceded for Tsiolkovsky, as a result of which the scientist was released.

In 1926-1929, Tsiolkovsky solves a practical question: how much fuel should be taken into a rocket in order to obtain a liftoff speed and leave the Earth. It turned out that the final speed of the rocket depends on the speed of the gases flowing out of it and on how many times the weight of the fuel exceeds the weight of the empty rocket.

K.E. Tsiolkovsky and M.K. Tikhonravov 02/17/1934 Kaluga

Tsiolkovsky put forward a number of ideas that have found application in rocket science. They proposed: gas rudders (made of graphite) to control the flight of the rocket and change the trajectory of its center of mass; the use of propellant components for cooling the outer shell of the spacecraft (during entry into the Earth's atmosphere), the walls of the combustion chamber and the nozzle; pumping system for supplying fuel components. In the field of rocket propellants, Tsiolkovsky investigated a large number of different oxidizers and fuels; recommended fuel vapors: liquid oxygen with hydrogen, oxygen with hydrocarbons. Tsiolkovsky worked hard and fruitfully on the creation of a theory of the flight of jet aircraft, invented his own scheme of a gas turbine engine.

Wernher von Braun, head of the work on the creation of the A-4 rocket, and later the American Saturn-5 launch vehicle, which launched Apollo spacecraft with lunar expeditions on board, in all his books and articles that contained historical reviews of the development of cosmonautics, emphasized the fundamental contribution of Tsiolkovsky to the development of its theoretical foundations:
"The results of his pioneering work are obvious to all who work in the field of astronautics today. He left us the mathematical calculations that are necessary to understand the problems associated with the construction of multi-stage rockets. In his research in the field of LRE [liquid rocket engine], the starting points were from which the design of modern rocket technology begins, for example, engines for the Saturn-5 launch vehicle ... This indicates that the requirements for the design of LRE, formulated by Tsiolkovsky many decades ago, have not lost their significance today. His theories have withstood the test of time."

Tsiolkovsky

Konstantin Eduardovich and Varvara Evgrafovna with their grandchildren

Since 1932, N. I. Sirotkin, a doctor from the branch of the medical commission, was attached to Tsiolkovsky for observation. In March 1935, Tsiolkovsky complained of feeling unwell. Sirotkin carefully examined him and recognized a cancerous tumor in the abdominal cavity. Professors called from Moscow tried to convince Konstantin Eduardovich to go to the Kremlin hospital for a long time. However, he refused. The scientist assured: in order to write his work, he needs another 15 years. He valued every day and therefore did not want to change his usual way of life and at least to some extent depart from work. They tried to persuade Konstantin Eduardovich to do additional research on the spot, in the Kaluga hospital, but he categorically refused this. Until August, the disease progressed steadily. Tsiolkovsky noticeably lost weight, turned pale. The weakness increased. In July, the second consultation took place. And this time Konstantin Eduardovich refused to go to the hospital. At the very end of August, partial intestinal obstruction set in, but even here it was not possible to convince Tsiolkovsky to go to the hospital. Only a week later, Konstantin Eduardovich agreed to the operation, which was performed on September 8, 1935 in the Kaluga railway hospital. After the operation, Tsiolkovsky lived only 11 days. He died on September 19, 1935.

K.E. Tsiolkovsky in the ward of the Kaluga hospital the day before his death. September 18, 1935.K.E. Tsiolkovsky in the hospital after surgery (09/15/1935)

Six days before his death, Tsiolkovsky wrote in a letter to Stalin: “Before the revolution, my dream could not come true. Only October brought recognition to the works of the self-taught: only the Soviet government and the Lenin-Stalin party provided me with effective help. I felt the love of the masses, and this gave me the strength to continue working, already being sick ... I transfer all my work on aviation, rocket navigation and interplanetary communications to the Bolshevik parties and the Soviet government - the true leaders of the progress of human culture. I am sure that they will successfully complete my work. "

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was not destined to see the embodiment of his dreams of conquering space during his lifetime. The first artificial Earth satellite was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, 22 years after Tsiolkovsky's death.

In 1966, 31 years after the death of the scientist, the Orthodox priest Alexander Men performed a funeral ceremony over the grave of Tsiolkovsky.

The children of Konstantin Eduardovich were teachers, like their father. The eldest daughter Lyubov Konstantinovna, the middle Maria, the youngest Anna, the son Alexander worked in rural schools in the Kaluga region, later in Kaluga, Alexander worked in the Poltava region.

Lyubov Konstantinovna Tsiolkovsky, teacher, eldest daughter and secretary of Konstantin Eduardovich

"Third child" in the family Alexander, teacher

D.I. Ivanov. Ivan Tsiolkovsky, the youngest son of K.E. Tsiolkovsky. Engraving. 1998 From the collection of GMIK

I. Ivanov. Maria Tsiolkovsky, the middle daughter of K.E. Tsiolkovsky. Engraving. 1998 From the collection of GMIK

D. I. Ivanov. Anna Tsiolkovsky, the youngest daughter of K.E. Tsiolkovsky. Engraving. 1998 From the collection of GMIK

Surprisingly, Konstantin Eduardovich, who dreamed of flying into space all his life, never flew on airplanes and did not express such a desire.

Monument to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in Borovsk

Arrival in Borovsk and marriage

School work

Relations with Borovets

Transfer to Kaluga

Kaluga (1892-1935)

Early 20th century (1902-1918)

Arrest and Lubyanka

Life of Tsiolkovsky under Soviet power (1918-1935)

Scientific achievements

rocket dynamics

Theoretical astronautics

Tsiolkovsky and Oberth

Tsiolkovsky and music

Philosophical views

Space device

The evolution of the mind

Human evolution

Other sentient beings

Cosmic optimism

Science fiction writer

Compositions

Collections and collections of works

Personal archive

perpetuation of memory

Monuments

Numismatics and philately

Interesting Facts

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky(Polish Konstanty Ciołkowski) (September 5 (17), 1857, Izhevsk, Ryazan province, Russian Empire - September 19, 1935, Kaluga, USSR) - Russian and Soviet self-taught scientist and inventor, school teacher. Founder of theoretical astronautics. He substantiated the use of rockets for flights into space, came to the conclusion that it was necessary to use "rocket trains" - prototypes of multi-stage rockets. His main scientific works relate to aeronautics, rocket dynamics and astronautics.

Representative of Russian cosmism, member of the Russian Society of Lovers of the World. Author of science fiction works, supporter and propagandist of the ideas of space exploration. Tsiolkovsky proposed to populate outer space using orbital stations, put forward the ideas of a space elevator, hovercraft trains. He believed that the development of life on one of the planets of the Universe would reach such power and perfection that it would make it possible to overcome the forces of gravity and spread life throughout the Universe.

Biography

Origin. Rod Tsiolkovsky

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky came from a Polish noble family of Tsiolkovsky (Polish. Ciołkowski) coat of arms of Yastrzhembets. The first mention of the belonging of the Tsiolkovskys to the nobility dates back to 1697.

According to family tradition, the Tsiolkovsky family traced its genealogy to the Cossack Severin Nalivaiko, the leader of the anti-feudal peasant-Cossack uprising in Ukraine in the 16th century. Answering the question of how the Cossack family became noble, the researcher of Tsiolkovsky's work and biography, Sergei Samoylovich, suggests that the descendants of Nalivaiko were exiled to the Plock Voivodeship, where they became related to a noble family and adopted their surname - Tsiolkovsky; this surname allegedly came from the name of the village of Tselkovo (that is, Telyatnikovo, Polish. Ciołkowo).

However, modern research does not confirm this legend. The genealogy of the Tsiolkovskys has been restored approximately to the middle of the 17th century, their relationship with Nalivaiko has not been established and is only in the nature of a family legend. Obviously, this legend impressed Konstantin Eduardovich himself - in fact, it is known only from himself (from autobiographical notes). In addition, in the copy of the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron that belonged to the scientist, the article “Nalivaiko, Severin” is marked with a charcoal pencil - this is how Tsiolkovsky marked the most interesting places for himself in books.

Parents of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

Almost immediately after the wedding in 1849, the Tsiolkovsky couple moved to the village of Izhevskoye in the Spassky district, where they lived until 1860.

Childhood. Izhevsk. Ryazan (1857-1868)

At the age of nine, Kostya, sledding at the beginning of winter, caught a cold and fell ill with scarlet fever. As a result of a complication after a serious illness, he partially lost his hearing. Then came what later Konstantin Eduardovich called "the saddest, darkest time of my life." Hearing loss deprived the boy of many childhood amusements and impressions familiar to his healthy peers.

Vyatka. High school education. Mother's death (1869-1873)

During their life in Vyatka, the Tsiolkovsky family changed several apartments. For the last 5 years (from 1873 to 1878) they lived in an outbuilding of the estate of the merchants Shuravins on Preobrazhenskaya Street.

In the same year, sad news came from St. Petersburg - the elder brother Dmitry, who studied at the Naval College, died. This death shocked the whole family, but especially Maria Ivanovna. In 1870, Kostya's mother, whom he dearly loved, died unexpectedly.

Grief crushed the orphaned boy. Even without that he did not shine with success in his studies, oppressed by the misfortunes that fell on him, Kostya studied worse and worse. Much more acutely did he feel his deafness, which prevented him from studying at school and made him more and more isolated. For pranks, he was repeatedly punished, ended up in a punishment cell. In the second grade, Kostya stayed for the second year, and from the third (in 1873) an expulsion followed with the characteristic "... for entering a technical school." After that, Konstantin never studied anywhere - he studied exclusively on his own; during these studies, he used his father's small library (which contained books on science and mathematics). Unlike gymnasium teachers, books generously endowed him with knowledge and never made the slightest reproach.

Moscow. Self-education. Meeting with Nikolai Fedorov (1873-1876)

For unknown reasons, Konstantin never entered the school, but decided to continue his education on his own. Living literally on bread and water (his father sent 10-15 rubles a month), he began to work hard. “Apart from water and black bread, I then had nothing. Every three days I went to the bakery and bought 9 kopecks worth of bread there. Thus, I lived 90 kopecks a month. To save money, Konstantin moved around Moscow only on foot. He spent all his free money on books, instruments and chemicals.

Every day from ten in the morning until three or four in the afternoon, the young man studies science in the Chertkovo public library - the only free library in Moscow at that time.

In this library, Tsiolkovsky met with the founder of Russian cosmism, Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov, who worked there as an assistant librarian (an employee who was constantly in the hall), but did not recognize the famous thinker in a modest employee. “He gave me forbidden books. Then it turned out that he was a well-known ascetic, a friend of Tolstoy and an amazing philosopher and modest. He distributed all his tiny salary to the poor. Now I see that he wanted to make me his boarder, but he did not succeed: I was too shy, ”Konstantin Eduardovich later wrote in his autobiography. Tsiolkovsky admitted that Fedorov replaced his university professors. However, this influence manifested itself much later, ten years after the death of the Moscow Socrates, and during his residence in Moscow, Konstantin knew nothing about the views of Nikolai Fedorovich, and they never once spoke about the Cosmos.

Work in the library was subject to a clear routine. In the morning, Konstantin was engaged in exact and natural sciences, which required concentration and clarity of mind. Then he switched to simpler material: fiction and journalism. He actively studied "thick" journals, where both review scientific articles and journalistic articles were published. He enthusiastically read Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy, Turgenev, admired the articles of Dmitry Pisarev: “Pisarev made me tremble with joy and happiness. In him I saw then my second “I”.

During the first year of his life in Moscow, Tsiolkovsky studied physics and the principles of mathematics. In 1874, the Chertkovo Library moved to the building of the Rumyantsev Museum, and Nikolai Fedorov moved to a new place of work with it. In the new reading room Konstantin studies differential and integral calculus, higher algebra, analytic and spherical geometry. Then astronomy, mechanics, chemistry.

For three years, Konstantin fully mastered the gymnasium program, as well as a significant part of the university one.

Return to Vyatka. Tutoring (1876-1878)

Konstantin returned to Vyatka weakened, emaciated and emaciated. Difficult living conditions in Moscow, hard work also led to a deterioration in vision. After returning home, Tsiolkovsky began to wear glasses. Having regained his strength, Konstantin began to give private lessons in physics and mathematics. I learned my first lesson through my father's connections in a liberal society. Having shown himself to be a talented teacher, in the future he had no shortage of students.

When teaching lessons, Tsiolkovsky used his own original methods, the main of which was a visual demonstration - Konstantin made paper models of polyhedra for geometry lessons, together with his students conducted numerous experiments in physics lessons, which earned him the fame of a teacher who explains the material well and clearly in the classroom with whom always interesting. To make models and conduct experiments, Tsiolkovsky rented a workshop. He spent all his free time in it or in the library. I read a lot - special literature, fiction, journalism. According to his autobiography, at that time he read the magazines Sovremennik, Delo, Otechestvennye Zapiski for all the years that they were published. At the same time I read the "Beginnings" by Isaac Newton, whose scientific views Tsiolkovsky adhered to throughout his later life.

By 1877, Eduard Ignatievich was already very weak and ill, the tragic death of his wife and children affected (except for the sons of Dmitry and Ignatius, during these years the Tsiolkovskys lost their youngest daughter, Ekaterina - she died in 1875, during the absence of Konstantin), the head of the family left resign. In 1878 the entire Tsiolkovsky family returned to Ryazan.

Return to Ryazan. Examinations for the title of teacher (1878-1880)

Upon returning to Ryazan, the family lived on Sadovaya Street. Immediately after his arrival, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky underwent a medical examination and was released from military service due to deafness. The family intended to buy a house and live on the income from it, but the unforeseen happened - Konstantin quarreled with his father. As a result, Konstantin rented a separate room from the employee Palkin and was forced to look for other means of subsistence, since his personal savings accumulated from private lessons in Vyatka were coming to an end, and in Ryazan an unknown tutor could not find students without recommendations.

Having successfully passed the exam, Tsiolkovsky received a referral from the Ministry of Education for the position of a teacher of arithmetic and geometry in the Borovsk district school of the Kaluga province (Borovsk was located 100 km from Moscow) and left Ryazan in January 1880.

Borovsk. Family creation. School work. First scientific works and publications (1880-1892)

Arrival in Borovsk and marriage

Upon arrival, Tsiolkovsky stayed in hotel rooms on the central square of the city. After a long search for more comfortable housing, Tsiolkovsky - on the recommendation of the inhabitants of Borovsk - "got on bread with a widower and his daughter, who lived on the outskirts of the city" - to E. E. Sokolov - a widower, priest of the Edinoverie church. He was given two rooms and a table of soup and porridge. Sokolov's daughter Varya was only two months younger than Tsiolkovsky; her character and diligence pleased him, and soon Tsiolkovsky married her; they got married on August 20, 1880 in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. Tsiolkovsky did not take any dowry for the bride, there was no wedding, the wedding was not advertised.

In January of the following year, the father of K. E. Tsiolkovsky died in Ryazan.

School work

Sometimes Tsiolkovsky had to replace other teachers and teach drawing, drawing, history, geography, and once even replace the superintendent of the school.

The first scientific works. Russian Physical and Chemical Society

The very first work of Tsiolkovsky was devoted to the application of mechanics in biology. She became the article written in 1880 "Graphic representation of sensations"; in this work, Tsiolkovsky developed the pessimistic theory of the “disturbed zero” characteristic of him at that time, mathematically substantiated the idea of the meaninglessness of human life (this theory, according to the later recognition of the scientist, was destined to play a fatal role in his life and in the life of his family). Tsiolkovsky sent this article to the Russian Thought magazine, but it was not published there and the manuscript was not returned, and Konstantin switched to other topics.

In 1881, Tsiolkovsky wrote his first truly scientific work, The Theory of Gases (whose manuscript has not been found). Once he was visited by a student Vasily Lavrov, who offered his help, as he was heading to St. following works by Tsiolkovsky). The Theory of Gases was written by Tsiolkovsky on the basis of the books he had. Tsiolkovsky independently developed the foundations of the kinetic theory of gases. The article was reviewed, Professor P.P. Van der Fleet expressed his opinion about the study:

Soon Tsiolkovsky received an answer from Mendeleev: the kinetic theory of gases was discovered 25 years ago. This fact was an unpleasant discovery for Konstantin, the reasons for his ignorance were isolation from the scientific community and lack of access to modern scientific literature. Despite the failure, Tsiolkovsky continued his research. The second scientific work submitted to RFHO was the 1882 article "Mechanics of a similarly variable organism." Professor Anatoly Bogdanov called the “mechanics of the animal body” classes “crazy”. Ivan Sechenov's review was generally favorable, but the work was not allowed to print:

The third work written in Borovsk and presented to the scientific community was the article "Duration of the Sun's Radiation" (1883), in which Tsiolkovsky described the mechanism of action of a star. He considered the Sun as an ideal gaseous sphere, tried to determine the temperature and pressure at its center, and the lifetime of the Sun. Tsiolkovsky in his calculations used only the basic laws of mechanics (the law of universal gravitation) and gas dynamics (the Boyle-Mariotte law). The article was reviewed by Professor Ivan Borgman. According to Tsiolkovsky, he liked it, but since there were practically no calculations in its original version, "it aroused distrust." Nevertheless, it was Borgman who proposed to publish the works presented by the teacher from Borovsk, which, however, was not done.

The members of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society unanimously voted to accept Tsiolkovsky into their ranks, as reported in a letter. However, Konstantin did not answer: “Naive savagery and inexperience,” he lamented later.

Tsiolkovsky's next work, "Free Space" in 1883, was written in the form of a diary. This is a kind of mental experiment, the narration is conducted on behalf of an observer who is in a free airless space and does not experience the action of forces of attraction and resistance. Tsiolkovsky describes the sensations of such an observer, his possibilities and limitations in movement and manipulation with various objects. He analyzes the behavior of gases and liquids in "free space", the functioning of various devices, the physiology of living organisms - plants and animals. The main result of this work can be considered the principle first formulated by Tsiolkovsky about the only possible method of movement in "free space" - jet propulsion:

The theory of the metal airship. Society of Natural Science Lovers. Russian Technical Society

One of the main problems that occupied Tsiolkovsky almost from the time of his arrival in Borovsk was the theory of balloons. Soon, the realization came to him that this is exactly the task that should be given the most attention:

Tsiolkovsky developed a balloon of his own design, which resulted in the voluminous work Theory and Experience of a Balloon Having an Elongated Shape in the Horizontal Direction (1885-1886). It provided a scientific and technical justification for the creation of a completely new and original design of an airship with a thin metallic shell. Tsiolkovsky gave drawings of general views of the balloon and some important components of its design. The main features of the airship developed by Tsiolkovsky:

The shell volume was variables, which made it possible to keep permanent lifting force at different flight altitudes and temperatures of the atmospheric air surrounding the airship. This possibility was achieved due to corrugated sidewalls and a special tightening system.
Tsiolkovsky abandoned the use of explosive hydrogen, his airship was filled with hot air. The height of the airship could be adjusted using a separately developed heating system. The air was heated by passing the exhaust gases of the motors through the coils.
The thin metal shell was also corrugated, which made it possible to increase its strength and stability. The corrugation waves were located perpendicular to the axis of the airship.

While working on this manuscript, P. M. Golubitsky, already a well-known inventor in the field of telephony, visited Tsiolkovsky. He invited Tsiolkovsky to go with him to Moscow, to introduce himself to the famous Sofya Kovalevskaya, who had come for a short time from Stockholm. However, Tsiolkovsky, by his own admission, did not dare to accept the offer: “My squalor and the resulting savagery prevented me from doing this. I didn't go. Maybe it's for the best."

Refusing to go to Golubitsky, Tsiolkovsky took advantage of his other offer - he wrote a letter to Moscow, professor of Moscow University A. G. Stoletov, in which he spoke about his airship. Soon a response letter arrived with a proposal to speak at the Moscow Polytechnic Museum at a meeting of the Physics Department of the Society of Natural Science Lovers.

In April 1887, Tsiolkovsky arrived in Moscow and after a long search found the museum building. His report was entitled "On the possibility of building a metal balloon capable of changing its volume and even folding into a plane." It was not necessary to read the report itself, only to explain the main provisions. The audience reacted favorably to the speaker, there were no fundamental objections, and several simple questions were asked. After the report was completed, an offer was made to help Tsiolkovsky settle in Moscow, but no real help was forthcoming. On the advice of Stoletov, Konstantin Eduardovich handed over the manuscript of the report to N. E. Zhukovsky.

In his memoirs, Tsiolkovsky also mentions his acquaintance during this trip with the famous teacher A.F. Malinin, the author of textbooks on mathematics: “I considered his textbooks to be excellent and I owe him a lot.” They talked about aeronautics, Tsiolkovsky failed to convince Malinin of the reality of creating a controlled airship. After returning from Moscow, there followed a long break in his work on the airship, associated with illness, moving, restoration of the economy and scientific materials that were lost in a fire and flood.

In 1889, Tsiolkovsky continued to work on his airship. Considering the failure in the Society of Natural Science Lovers as a result of the insufficient study of his first manuscript about the balloon, Tsiolkovsky wrote a new article “On the possibility of building a metal balloon” (1890) and, together with a paper model of his airship, sent it to D. I. Mendeleev in St. Petersburg. Mendeleev, at the request of Tsiolkovsky, handed over all the materials to the Imperial Russian Technical Society (IRTS), V. I. Sreznevsky. Tsiolkovsky asked scientists "to help as far as possible morally and morally", and also to allocate funds for the creation of a metal model of a balloon - 300 rubles. On October 23, 1890, at a meeting of the VII department of the IRTS, Tsiolkovsky's request was considered. The conclusion was given by the military engineer E. S. Fedorov, a staunch supporter of aircraft heavier than air. The second opponent, the head of the first "cadre team of military aeronauts" A. M. Kovanko, like most of the other listeners, also denied the expediency of devices similar to the proposed one. At this meeting, the IRTS decided:

Despite the refusal of support, Tsiolkovsky sent a letter of thanks to the IRTS. A small consolation was the message in the Kaluga Gubernskiye Vedomosti, and then in some other newspapers: News of the Day, Peterburgskaya Gazeta, Russky Invalid about Tsiolkovsky's report. These articles paid tribute to the originality of the idea and design of the balloon, and also confirmed the correctness of the calculations made. Tsiolkovsky, at his own expense, makes small models of balloon shells (30x50 cm) from corrugated metal and wire models of the frame (30x15 cm) to prove, including to himself, the possibility of using metal.

In 1891, Tsiolkovsky made another, last, attempt to protect his airship in the eyes of the scientific community. He wrote a large work "Metal controlled balloon", in which he took into account the comments and wishes of Zhukovsky, and on October 16 he sent it, this time to Moscow, A. G. Stoletov. Again there was no result.

Then Konstantin Eduardovich turned to his friends for help and ordered the publication of the book in the Moscow printing house of M. G. Volchaninov with the funds raised. One of the donors was a school friend of Konstantin Eduardovich, the famous archaeologist A. A. Spitsyn, who at that time was visiting the Tsiolkovskys and conducting research on ancient human sites in the area of St. Pafnutiev Borovsky Monastery and at the mouth of the Isterma River. The book was published by a friend of Tsiolkovsky, a teacher at the Borovsky School, S. E. Chertkov. The book was published after Tsiolkovsky's transfer to Kaluga in two editions: the first in 1892; the second - in 1893.

Other jobs. The first science fiction work. First publications

In 1887, Tsiolkovsky wrote a short story "On the Moon" - his first science fiction work. The story largely continues the traditions of "Free Space", but is clothed in a more artistic form, has a complete, albeit very conditional, plot. Two nameless heroes - the author and his friend, a physicist - unexpectedly end up on the moon. The main and only task of the work is to describe the impressions of the observer who is on its surface. Tsiolkovsky's story is distinguished by its persuasiveness, the presence of numerous details, and rich literary language:

In addition to the lunar landscape, Tsiolkovsky describes the view of the sky and luminaries (including the Earth) observed from the surface of the Moon. He analyzed in detail the consequences of low gravity, the absence of an atmosphere, and other features of the Moon (speed of rotation around the Earth and the Sun, constant orientation relative to the Earth).

Tsiolkovsky "observes" a solar eclipse (the disk of the Sun is completely hidden by the Earth):

On the Moon, it is a frequent and grandiose phenomenon... The shadow covers either the entire Moon, or in most cases a significant part of its surface, so that complete darkness continues for hours...

The sickle has become even narrower and, along with the Sun, is barely noticeable ...

The sickle became completely invisible ...

It was as if someone on one side of the star flattened its luminous mass with an invisible giant finger.

Only half of the Sun is already visible.

Finally, the last particle of it disappeared, and everything plunged into darkness. A huge shadow ran up and covered us.

But blindness quickly disappears: we see the moon and many stars.

The moon has the form of a dark circle, embraced by a magnificent crimson radiance, especially bright, although pale on the side where the rest of the Sun has disappeared.

I see the colors of the dawn, which we once admired from the Earth.

And the surroundings are flooded with crimson, as if with blood.

K. E. Tsiolkovsky. On the moon. Chapter 4

The story also tells about the alleged behavior of gases and liquids, measuring instruments. The features of physical phenomena are described: heating and cooling of surfaces, evaporation and boiling of liquids, combustion and explosions. Tsiolkovsky makes a number of deliberate assumptions in order to demonstrate lunar realities. So, the heroes, once on the moon, do without air, they are not affected by the absence of atmospheric pressure in any way - they do not experience any particular inconvenience while on the surface of the moon.

The denouement is as conditional as the rest of the plot - the author wakes up on Earth and finds out that he was sick and was in a lethargic dream, about which he informs his friend the physicist, surprising him with the details of his fantastic dream.

During the last two years of his residence in Borovsk (1890-1891), Tsiolkovsky wrote several articles on various issues. So, in the period October 6, 1890 - May 18, 1891, on the basis of experiments on air resistance, he wrote a large work "On the question of flying by means of wings." The manuscript was handed over by Tsiolkovsky to A. G. Stoletov, who gave it to N. E. Zhukovsky for review, who wrote a restrained but quite favorable review:

Tsiolkovsky was asked to select a fragment from this manuscript and rework it for publication. This is how the article “The pressure of a liquid on a plane moving uniformly in it” appeared, in which Tsiolkovsky studied the movement of a round plate in an air flow, using his own theoretical model, alternative to Newton’s, and also proposed the device of the simplest experimental setup - a “turntable”. In the second half of May, Tsiolkovsky wrote a short essay - "How to protect fragile and delicate things from pushes and blows." These two works were sent to Stoletov and in the second half of 1891 were published in the Proceedings of the Physical Sciences Department of the Society of Natural Science Lovers (vol. IV), becoming the first publication of the works of K. E. Tsiolkovsky.

A family

During the years of living in Borovsk, the family was forced to change their place of residence several times - in the fall of 1883, they moved to Kaluga Street to the house of Baranov, a sheep farmer. From the spring of 1885 they lived in the house of Kovalev (on the same Kaluga street).

The next move to the house of M. I. Polukhina on Krugloya Street. On April 1, 1889, Protva overflowed, and the Tsiolkovskys' house was flooded. Records and books suffered again.

Since the autumn of 1889, the Tsiolkovskys lived in the house of the Molchanov merchants at 4 Molchanovskaya Street.

Relations with Borovets

With some residents of the city, Tsiolkovsky developed friendly and even friendly relations. His first senior friend after arriving in Borovsk was the superintendent of the school Alexander Stepanovich Tolmachev, who unfortunately died in January 1881, a little later than his father Konstantin Eduardovich. Among others - the teacher of history and geography Yevgeny Sergeevich Eremeev and his wife's brother Ivan Sokolov. Tsiolkovsky also maintained friendly relations with the merchant N. P. Glukharev, the investigator N. K. Fetter, in whose house there was a home library, in the organization of which Tsiolkovsky also took part. Together with I. V. Shokin, Konstantin Eduardovich was fond of photography, made and launched kites from a cliff above the Tekizhensky ravine.

However, for the majority of colleagues and residents of the city, Tsiolkovsky was an eccentric. At the school, he never took a “tribute” from negligent students, did not give paid additional lessons, had his own opinion on all issues, did not take part in feasts and parties, and he never celebrated anything, kept apart, was unsociable and unsociable. For all these "oddities", his colleagues nicknamed him Zhelyabka and "were suspected of what was not." Tsiolkovsky interfered with them, irritated them. Colleagues, for the most part, dreamed of getting rid of him and twice denounced Konstantin to the Director of public schools in the Kaluga province, D.S. Unkovsky, for his careless statements regarding religion. After the first denunciation, an inquiry came about Tsiolkovsky's trustworthiness, Evgraf Yegorovich (then Tsiolkovsky's future father-in-law) and the superintendent of the school, A. S. Tolmachev, vouched for him. The second denunciation came after the death of Tolmachev, under his successor, E. F. Filippov, a man of unscrupulous deeds and behavior, who had an extremely negative attitude towards Tsiolkovsky. The denunciation almost cost Tsiolkovsky his job, he had to go to Kaluga to give explanations, having spent most of his monthly salary on the trip.

The inhabitants of Borovsk also did not understand Tsiolkovsky and shunned him, laughed at him, some even feared him, called him a "crazy inventor." The eccentricities of Tsiolkovsky, his way of life, which was radically different from the way of life of the inhabitants of Borovsk, often caused bewilderment and irritation.

So, once, with the help of a pantograph, Tsiolkovsky made a large paper hawk - a copy of a folding Japanese toy enlarged several times - painted it and launched it in the city, and the residents mistook it for a real bird.

In winter, Tsiolkovsky liked to ski and skate. He came up with the idea of driving along a frozen river with the help of an umbrella-“sail”. Soon, according to the same principle, he made a sleigh with a sail:

Tsiolkovsky, being a nobleman, was a member of the Noble Assembly of Borovsk, gave private lessons to the children of the Leader of the local nobility, the actual State Councilor D. Ya. Kurnosov, which protected him from further encroachments by the caretaker Filippov. Thanks to this acquaintance, as well as success in teaching, Tsiolkovsky received the rank of provincial secretary (August 31, 1884), then collegiate secretary (November 8, 1885), titular adviser (December 23, 1886). January 10, 1889 Tsiolkovsky received the rank of collegiate assessor.

Transfer to Kaluga

Kaluga (1892-1935)

(From the memoirs of Lyubov Konstantinovna, daughter of a scientist)

Tsiolkovsky lived in Kaluga for the rest of his life. Since 1892 he worked as a teacher of arithmetic and geometry in the Kaluga district school. Since 1899, he taught physics at the diocesan women's school, disbanded after the October Revolution. In Kaluga, Tsiolkovsky wrote his main works on astronautics, jet propulsion theory, space biology and medicine. He also continued work on the theory of a metal airship.

After completing his teaching, in 1921, Tsiolkovsky was granted a personal lifetime pension. From that moment until his death, Tsiolkovsky was engaged exclusively in his research, dissemination of his ideas, and implementation of projects.

In Kaluga, the main philosophical works of K. E. Tsiolkovsky were written, the philosophy of monism was formulated, articles were written about his vision of an ideal society of the future.

In Kaluga, Tsiolkovsky met the scientists A. L. Chizhevsky and Ya. I. Perelman, who became his friends and popularizers of his ideas, and later biographers.

The first years of life in Kaluga (1892-1902)

The Tsiolkovsky family arrived in Kaluga on February 4, settled in an apartment in the house of N.I. Timashova on Georgievskaya Street, rented in advance for them. S. Eremeev. Konstantin Eduardovich began to teach arithmetic and geometry at the Kaluga Diocesan School (in 1918-1921 - at the Kaluga Labor School).

On August 8, 1892, the Tsiolkovskys had a son, Leonty, who died of whooping cough exactly one year later, on the first day of his birth. At that time, there were holidays at the school, and Tsiolkovsky spent the whole summer in the Sokolniki estate of the Maloyaroslavets district with his old friend D. Ya. Kurnosov (leader of the Borovsk nobility), where he gave lessons to his children. After the death of the child, Varvara Evgrafovna decided to change her apartment, and by the time Konstantin Eduardovich returned, the family moved to the Speransky house, located opposite, on the same street.

Assonov introduced Tsiolkovsky to the chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod circle of lovers of physics and astronomy, S. V. Shcherbakov. In the 6th edition of the collection of the circle, an article by Tsiolkovsky "Gravity as the main source of world energy" (1893) was published, developing the ideas of the early work "The Duration of the Radiation of the Sun" (1883). The work of the circle was regularly published in the recently created journal "Science and Life", and in the same year the text of this report was published in it, as well as a small article by Tsiolkovsky "Is a metal balloon possible?" December 13, 1893 Konstantin Eduardovich was elected an honorary member of the circle.

Around the same time, Tsiolkovsky became friends with the Goncharov family. Alexander Nikolaevich Goncharov, appraiser of the Kaluga Bank, nephew of the famous writer I. A. Goncharov, was a comprehensively educated person, knew several languages, corresponded with many prominent writers and public figures, he himself regularly published his works of art, devoted mainly to the theme of decline and degeneration Russian nobility. Goncharov decided to support the publication of a new book by Tsiolkovsky - a collection of essays "Dreams of the Earth and Sky" (1894), his second work of art, while Goncharov's wife, Elizaveta Alexandrovna, translated the article "An iron controlled balloon for 200 people, with a length of a large steamboat" into French and German and sent them to foreign magazines. However, when Konstantin Eduardovich wanted to thank Goncharov and, without his knowledge, placed the inscription on the cover of the book Edition by A. N. Goncharov, this led to a scandal and a break in relations between the Tsiolkovskys and the Goncharovs.

In 1896-1898, the scientist took part in the newspaper "Kaluga Vestnik", which published both the materials of Tsiolkovsky himself and articles about him.

Early 20th century (1902-1918)

The first fifteen years of the 20th century were the most difficult in the life of a scientist. In 1902 his son Ignatius committed suicide. In 1908, during the flood of the Oka, his house was flooded, many cars, exhibits were disabled, and numerous unique calculations were lost. On June 5, 1919, the Council of the Russian Society of World Studies Lovers accepted K. E. Tsiolkovsky as a member, and he, as a member of the scientific society, was granted a pension. This saved him from starvation during the years of devastation, since on June 30, 1919, the Socialist Academy did not elect him as a member and thus left him without a livelihood. The Physicochemical Society also did not appreciate the significance and revolutionary nature of the models presented by Tsiolkovsky. In 1923, his second son, Alexander, took his own life.

Arrest and Lubyanka

In 1918, Tsiolkovsky was elected to the number of competing members of the Socialist Academy of Social Sciences (in 1924 it was renamed the Communist Academy), and on November 9, 1921, the scientist was awarded a life pension for services to domestic and world science. This pension was paid until September 19, 1935 - on that day Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky died of stomach cancer in his hometown of Kaluga.

Six days before his death, on September 13, 1935, K. E. Tsiolkovsky wrote in a letter to I. V. Stalin:

The letter of the outstanding scientist was soon answered: “To the famous figure of science, comrade K. E. Tsiolkovsky. Please accept my gratitude for the letter full of confidence in the Bolshevik Party and Soviet power. I wish you good health and further fruitful work for the benefit of the working people. I shake your hand. I. Stalin.

The next day, a decree of the Soviet government was published on measures to perpetuate the memory of the great Russian scientist and on the transfer of his works to the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet. Subsequently, by decision of the government, they were transferred to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, where a special commission was created to develop the works of K. E. Tsiolkovsky. The commission distributed the scientific works of the scientist into sections. The first volume concluded all the works of K. E. Tsiolkovsky on aerodynamics; the second volume - works on jet aircraft; the third volume - works on all-metal airships, on increasing the energy of heat engines and various issues of applied mechanics, on watering deserts and cooling human dwellings in them, using tides and waves, and various inventions; the fourth volume included Tsiolkovsky's writings on astronomy, geophysics, biology, the structure of matter, and other problems; finally, the fifth volume contains biographical materials and correspondence of the scientist.

In 1966, 31 years after the death of the scientist, the Orthodox priest Alexander Men performed a funeral ceremony over the grave of Tsiolkovsky.

Correspondence between Tsiolkovsky and Zabolotsky (since 1932)

In 1932, a correspondence between Konstantin Eduardovich and one of the most talented "poets of Thought" of his time, who was looking for the harmony of the universe, was established - Nikolai Alekseevich Zabolotsky. The latter, in particular, wrote to Tsiolkovsky: “ … Your thoughts about the future of the Earth, humanity, animals and plants deeply concern me, and they are very close to me. In my unpublished poems and poems, I did my best to resolve them". Zabolotsky told him about the hardships of his own search for the benefit of mankind: “ It is one thing to know and another to feel. A conservative feeling, brought up in us for centuries, clings to our consciousness and prevents it from moving forward.". The natural-philosophical research of Tsiolkovsky left an extremely significant imprint on the work of this author.

Scientific achievements

K. E. Tsiolkovsky argued that he developed the theory of rocket science only as an application to his philosophical research. He wrote more than 400 works, most of which are little known to the general reader.

The first scientific studies of Tsiolkovsky date back to 1880-1881. Not knowing about the discoveries already made, he wrote the work "The Theory of Gases", in which he outlined the foundations of the kinetic theory of gases. His second work, The Mechanics of the Animal Organism, received a favorable review from I. M. Sechenov, and Tsiolkovsky was accepted into the Russian Physical and Chemical Society. The main works of Tsiolkovsky after 1884 were associated with four major problems: the scientific substantiation of an all-metal balloon (airship), a streamlined airplane, an air cushion train, and a rocket for interplanetary travel.

Aeronautics and aerodynamics

Having taken up the mechanics of controlled flight, Tsiolkovsky designed a controlled balloon (the word "airship" had not yet been invented). In the essay "Theory and Experience of the Aerostat" (1892), Tsiolkovsky for the first time gave a scientific and technical justification for the creation of a controlled airship with metal shell(The balloons with rubberized fabric shells used at that time had significant drawbacks: the fabric wore out quickly, the service life of balloons was short; in addition, due to the permeability of the fabric, hydrogen, which was then filled with balloons, escaped, and air penetrated into the shell and formed explosive gas (hydrogen + air) - an accidental spark was enough to cause an explosion). Tsiolkovsky's airship was an airship variable volume(this allows you to save permanent lift at different flight altitudes and ambient temperatures), had a system heating gas (due to the heat of the exhaust gases of the engines), and the shell of the airship was corrugated(to increase strength). However, the Tsiolkovsky airship project, progressive for its time, did not receive support from official organizations; the author was denied a grant to build the model.

In 1891, in the article "On the Question of Flying with Wings," Tsiolkovsky turned to a new and little studied field of aircraft heavier than air. Continuing work on this topic, he came up with the idea of building an airplane with a metal frame. In the article of 1894 "A balloon or a bird-like (aircraft) flying machine" Tsiolkovsky for the first time gave a description, calculations and drawings of an all-metal monoplane with a thick curved wing. He was the first to justify the position on the need to improve streamlining fuselage of an airplane in order to obtain high speeds. In its appearance and aerodynamic layout, the Tsiolkovsky airplane anticipated the designs of aircraft that appeared after 15-18 years; but the work on the creation of an airplane (as well as the work on the creation of Tsiolkovsky's airship) did not receive recognition from the official representatives of Russian science. For further research, Tsiolkovsky had neither the means nor even moral support.

Among other things, in an article of 1894, Tsiolkovsky gave a diagram of the aerodynamic balances he had designed. The current model of the "turntable" was demonstrated by N. E. Zhukovsky in Moscow, at the Mechanical Exhibition held in January of this year.

In his apartment, Tsiolkovsky created the first aerodynamic laboratory in Russia. In 1897, he built the first wind tunnel in Russia with an open working part and proved the need for a systematic experiment to determine the forces of the air flow on a body moving in it. He developed a methodology for such an experiment, and in 1900, with a subsidy from the Academy of Sciences, he made blow-throughs of the simplest models and determined the drag coefficient of a ball, flat plate, cylinder, cone and other bodies; described the flow of air around bodies of various geometric shapes. The works of Tsiolkovsky in the field of aerodynamics were a source of ideas for N. E. Zhukovsky.

Tsiolkovsky worked hard and fruitfully on the creation of a theory of the flight of jet aircraft, invented his own scheme of a gas turbine engine; in 1927 published the theory and scheme of the hovercraft. He was the first to propose "retractable under the body" chassis.

Fundamentals of jet propulsion theory

Tsiolkovsky has been systematically engaged in the theory of the movement of jet vehicles since 1896 (thoughts about using the rocket principle in space were expressed by Tsiolkovsky as early as 1883, but a rigorous theory of jet propulsion was presented by him later). In 1903, the journal "Scientific Review" published an article by K. E. Tsiolkovsky "The study of world spaces by reactive devices", in which he, relying on the simplest laws of theoretical mechanics (the law of conservation of momentum and the law of independence of the action of forces), developed the foundations theory of jet propulsion and conducted a theoretical study of the rectilinear motion of a rocket, substantiating the possibility of using jet vehicles for interplanetary communications.

Mechanics of bodies of variable composition

Thanks to the deep research of I. V. Meshchersky and K. E. Tsiolkovsky in the late XIX - early XX centuries. the foundations of a new section of theoretical mechanics were laid - mechanics of bodies of variable composition. If in the main works of Meshchersky, published in 1897 and 1904, the general equations of the dynamics of a point of variable composition were derived, then in the work “Investigation of world spaces with jet devices” (1903) Tsiolkovsky contained the formulation and solution of classical problems of the mechanics of bodies of variable composition - the first and the second problem of Tsiolkovsky. Both of these problems, considered below, are equally relevant both to the mechanics of bodies of variable composition and to rocket dynamics.

Tsiolkovsky's first task: find the change in the speed of a point of variable composition (in particular, a rocket) in the absence of external forces and the constancy of the relative speed of separation of particles (in the case of a rocket, the speed of the outflow of combustion products from the nozzle of a rocket engine).

In accordance with the conditions of this problem, the Meshchersky equation in the projection on the direction of movement of the point has the form:

where and are the current mass and speed of the point. Integration of this differential equation gives the following law of change in the point velocity:

the current value of the speed of a point of variable composition depends, therefore, on the value and the law according to which the mass of the point changes over time: .

In the case of a rocket, where is the mass of the rocket body with all equipment and payload, is the mass of the initial fuel supply. For the rocket speed at the end of the active phase of the flight (when all the fuel is used up), the Tsiolkovsky formula is obtained:

It is essential that the maximum speed of a rocket does not depend on the law according to which fuel is consumed.

The second task of Tsiolkovsky: find the change in the speed of a point of variable composition during vertical ascent in a uniform gravitational field in the absence of medium resistance (the relative separation velocity of particles is still considered constant).

Here, the Meshchersky equation in projection onto the vertical axis takes the form

where is the free fall acceleration. After integration we get:

and for the end of the active flight segment we have:

Tsiolkovsky's study of the rectilinear motions of rockets significantly enriched the mechanics of bodies of variable composition by posing completely new problems. Unfortunately, Meshchersky's work was unknown to Tsiolkovsky, and in a number of cases he came anew to results that had already been obtained by Meshchersky.

However, an analysis of Tsiolkovsky's manuscripts shows that it is impossible to speak of a significant lag in his work on the theory of motion of bodies of variable composition from Meshchersky. Tsiolkovsky's formula in the form

found in his mathematical notes and dated: May 10, 1897; just this year, the derivation of the general equation of motion of a material point of variable composition was published in the dissertation of I. V. Meshchersky (“Dynamics of a point of variable mass”, I. V. Meshchersky, St. Petersburg, 1897).

rocket dynamics

In 1903, K. E. Tsiolkovsky published an article entitled “Investigation of the World Spaces with Reactive Devices”, where he proved for the first time that a rocket is an apparatus capable of making a space flight. The article also proposed the first draft long range missiles. Its body was an elongated metal chamber, equipped with a liquid jet engine; as a fuel and an oxidizing agent, he proposed to use liquid hydrogen and oxygen, respectively. To control the flight of the rocket provided gas rudders.

The result of the first publication was not at all what Tsiolkovsky expected. Neither compatriots nor foreign scientists appreciated the research that science is proud of today - it was simply ahead of its time by an era. In 1911, the second part of the work “Investigation of the World Spaces with Reactive Instruments” was published, where Tsiolkovsky calculates the work to overcome the force of gravity, determines the speed necessary for the apparatus to enter the solar system (“second cosmic velocity”) and the flight time. This time, Tsiolkovsky's article made a lot of noise in the scientific world, and he made many friends in the world of science.

Tsiolkovsky put forward the idea of using composite (multi-stage) rockets (or, as he called them, "rocket trains") for space flights and proposed two types of such rockets (with series and parallel connection of stages). With his calculations, he substantiated the most advantageous distribution of the masses of the rockets included in the "train". In a number of his works (1896, 1911, 1914), a rigorous mathematical theory of the motion of single-stage and multi-stage rockets with liquid-propellant engines was developed in detail.

Tsiolkovsky put forward a number of ideas that have found application in rocket science. They proposed: gas rudders (made of graphite) to control the flight of the rocket and change the trajectory of its center of mass; the use of propellant components for cooling the outer shell of the spacecraft (during entry into the Earth's atmosphere), the walls of the combustion chamber and the nozzle; a pumping system for supplying propellant components, etc. In the field of rocket propellants, Tsiolkovsky investigated a large number of different oxidizers and combustibles; recommended fuel vapors: liquid oxygen with hydrogen, oxygen with hydrocarbons.

Tsiolkovsky was proposed and rocket launch from flyover(slanted guide), which was reflected in early science fiction films. Currently, this method of launching a rocket is used in military artillery in multiple launch rocket systems (Katyusha, Grad, Smerch, etc.).

Another idea of Tsiolkovsky is the idea of refueling rockets during the flight. Calculating the takeoff weight of a rocket depending on the fuel, Tsiolkovsky offers a fantastic solution for fuel transfer "on the go" from sponsor rockets. In Tsiolkovsky's scheme, for example, 32 rockets were launched; 16 of which, having worked out half of the fuel, were supposed to give it to the other 16, which, in turn, having worked out the fuel by half, should also be divided into 8 missiles that would fly further, and 8 missiles that would give their fuel to the missiles of the first groups - and so on, until there is one missile left, which is intended to achieve the goal.

Theoretical astronautics

In theoretical astronautics, Tsiolkovsky studied the rectilinear motion of rockets in a Newtonian gravitational field. He applied the laws of celestial mechanics to determine the possibilities for the implementation of flights in the solar system and investigated the physics of flight in zero gravity. Determined the optimal flight paths during descent to Earth; In the work "Spaceship" (1924), Tsiolkovsky analyzed the gliding descent of a rocket in the atmosphere that occurs without fuel consumption when it returns from an extraatmospheric flight along a spiral trajectory that goes around the Earth.

One of the pioneers of Soviet cosmonautics, Professor M. K. Tikhonravov, discussing the contribution of K. E. Tsiolkovsky to theoretical astronautics, wrote that his work “Investigation of world spaces with rocket instruments” can be called almost comprehensive. In it, a liquid-fuel rocket was proposed for flights in outer space (in this case, the possibility of using electric propulsion engines was indicated), the basics of the dynamics of the flight of rocket vehicles were outlined, the medical and biological problems of long-term interplanetary flights were considered, the need to create artificial Earth satellites and orbital stations was indicated, and analyzed social significance of the whole complex of human space activities.

Tsiolkovsky defended the idea of a variety of life forms in the Universe, was the first theorist and propagandist of human space exploration.

Tsiolkovsky and Oberth

Hermann Oberth himself described his contribution to astronautics as follows:

Research in other fields

Tsiolkovsky and music

Hearing problems did not prevent the scientist from understanding music well. There is his work "The Origin of Music and Its Essence". The Tsiolkovsky family had a piano and a harmonium.

Tsiolkovsky as an opponent of Einstein's theory of relativity

Tsiolkovsky was skeptical about the theory of relativity (relativistic theory) of Albert Einstein. In a letter to V. V. Ryumin dated April 30, 1927, Tsiolkovsky wrote:

In the Tsiolkovsky archive, articles by A. F. Ioffe “What experiments say about Einstein’s theory of relativity” and A. K. Timiryazev “Do experiments confirm the theory of relativity”, “Experiments of Dayton-Miller and the theory of relativity” were found cut out by Konstantin Eduardovich from Pravda .

On February 7, 1935, in the article “The Bible and the Scientific Trends of the West,” Tsiolkovsky published objections to the theory of relativity, where he, in particular, denied the limitation of the size of the Universe to 200 million light years according to Einstein. Tsiolkovsky wrote:

In the same work, he denied the theory of the expanding Universe on the basis of spectroscopic observations (redshift) according to E. Hubble, considering this shift to be a consequence of other reasons. In particular, he explained the redshift by the slowing down of the speed of light in the cosmic environment, caused by "an obstacle from the side of ordinary matter scattered everywhere in space", and pointing out the dependence: "the faster the apparent movement, the farther the nebula (galaxy)".

Regarding the limitation on the speed of light according to Einstein, Tsiolkovsky wrote in the same article:

Denied Tsiolkovsky and time dilation in the theory of relativity:

With bitterness and indignation, Tsiolkovsky spoke of "multi-storied hypotheses", in the foundation of which there is nothing but purely mathematical exercises, although curious, but representing nonsense. He claimed:

Tsiolkovsky expressed his opinions on the topic of relativism (in a harsh form) also in private correspondence. Lev Abramovich Kassil in the article "Astrologer and countrymen" claimed that Tsiolkovsky wrote letters to him, "where he angrily argued with Einstein, reproaching him ... in unscientific idealism." However, when one of the biographers tried to get acquainted with these letters, it turned out that, according to Kassil, “irreparable happened: the letters died.”

Philosophical views

Space device

Tsiolkovsky calls himself "the purest materialist": he believes that only matter exists, and the entire cosmos is nothing more than a very complex mechanism.

Space and time are infinite, so the number of stars and planets in space is also infinite. The Universe has always had and will have one form - "many planets illuminated by the sun's rays", cosmic processes are periodic: each star, planetary system, galaxy ages and dies, but then, exploding, is reborn again - there is only a periodic transition between a simpler (sparse gas) and more complex (stars and planets) state of matter.

The evolution of the mind

Tsiolkovsky admits the existence of beings higher than humans that will descend from humans or are already on other planets.

Human evolution

Today's man is an immature, transitional being. Soon a happy social order will be established on Earth, general unification will come, wars will stop. The development of science and technology will make it possible to radically change the environment. Man himself will also change, becoming a more perfect being.

Other sentient beings

There are many inhabited planets in the Universe. More perfect than man, beings that populate the universe in many, probably have some kind of influence on humanity.

It is also possible that beings of a completely different nature, left over from previous cosmic epochs, influence a person: “... Matter did not immediately appear as dense as it is now. There were stages of incomparably more rarefied matter. She could create creatures that are now inaccessible to us, invisible", "intelligent, but almost insubstantial in their low density." We can allow them to penetrate "into our brains and interfere with human affairs."

The Spread of Intelligence in the Universe

Perfect humanity will settle on other planets and artificially created objects of the solar system. At the same time, creatures adapted to the corresponding environment will form on different planets. The type of organism that does not need an atmosphere and "feeds directly on solar energy" will be dominant. Then the resettlement will continue beyond the solar system. Just like perfect people, representatives of other worlds also spread throughout the Universe, while “reproduction is millions of times faster than on Earth. However, it is regulated at will: a perfect population is needed - it is born quickly and in any number.” Planets unite into unions, and entire solar systems will unite in the same way, and then their associations, etc.

Encountering rudimentary or ugly forms of life during settlement, highly developed beings destroy them and inhabit such planets with their representatives, who have already reached the highest stage of development. Since perfection is better than imperfection, higher beings “painlessly eliminate” the lower (animal) forms of life in order to “save them from the pangs of development”, from the painful struggle for survival, mutual extermination, etc. “Is this good, isn’t it cruel? If it were not for their intervention, then the painful self-destruction of animals would have continued for millions of years, as it still continues on Earth. Their intervention in a few years, even days, destroys all suffering and puts in their place a reasonable, powerful and happy life. It is clear that the latter is millions of times better than the former.

Life spreads throughout the Universe primarily by settlement, and does not spontaneously generate, as on Earth; it is infinitely faster and avoids countless suffering in a self-evolving world. Spontaneous generation is sometimes allowed for renewal, the influx of fresh forces into the community of perfect beings; such is the "martyrdom and honorable role of the Earth", martyrdom - because the independent path to perfection is full of suffering. But "the sum of these sufferings is imperceptible in the ocean of happiness of the entire cosmos."

Panpsychism, the mind of the atom and immortality

Tsiolkovsky is a panpsychist: he claims that any matter has sensitivity (the ability to mentally “feel pleasant and unpleasant”), only the degree is different. Sensitivity decreases from a person to animals and further, but does not disappear completely, since there is no clear boundary between living and non-living matter.

The spread of life is a blessing, and the more perfect, that is, the more reasonable this life is, for "reason is that which leads to the eternal well-being of every atom." Each atom, getting into the brain of a rational being, lives his life, experiences his feelings - and this is the highest state of existence for matter. “Even in one animal, wandering around the body, he [atom] lives either the life of the brain, or the life of a bone, hair, nail, epithelium, etc. This means that he either thinks or lives like an atom enclosed in stone, water or air. Now he sleeps, not conscious of time, then he lives in the moment, like lower beings, then he is conscious of the past and draws a picture of the future. The higher the organization of the being, the further this idea of the future and the past extends. In this sense, there is no death: periods of the inorganic existence of atoms fly by for them like a dream or a swoon, when sensitivity is almost absent; becoming a part of the brain of organisms, every atom "lives their life and feels the joy of a conscious and cloudless existence", and "all these incarnations subjectively merge into one subjectively continuous beautiful and endless life." Therefore, there is no need to be afraid of death: after the death and destruction of the organism, the time of the inorganic existence of the atom flies, “passes for it like zero. It is subjective. But the population of the Earth in such a period of time is completely transformed. The globe will then be covered only by the highest forms of life, and our atom will use only them. This means that death ends all suffering and gives, subjectively, immediately happiness.

Cosmic optimism

Since there are countless worlds in space inhabited by highly developed beings, they have undoubtedly already populated almost the entire space. "... In general, the cosmos contains only joy, contentment, perfection and truth ... leaving so little for the rest that it can be considered like a black speck on a white sheet of paper."

Space Ages and "Radiant Humanity"

Tsiolkovsky suggests that the evolution of the cosmos may be a series of transitions between the material and energy states of matter. The final stage in the evolution of matter (including intelligent beings) may be the final transition from the material state to the energy, “radiant” one. “... One must think that energy is a special kind of the simplest matter, which sooner or later will again give the hydrogen matter known to us,” and then the cosmos will again turn into a material state, but of a higher level, again man and all matter will evolve to an energy state, and etc. in a spiral, and finally, at the highest turn of this spiral of development, “mind (or matter) recognizes everything, it considers the very existence of individual individuals and the material or corpuscular world to be unnecessary and passes into a ray state of a high order, which will know everything and nothing not to desire, that is, to that state of consciousness which the human mind considers the prerogative of the gods. The cosmos will turn into a great perfection.”

Eugenic theories of Tsiolkovsky

According to the philosophical concept that Tsiolkovsky published in a series of brochures published at his own expense, the future of mankind directly depends on the number of born geniuses, and in order to increase the birth rate of the latter, Tsiolkovsky comes up with a perfect, in his opinion, eugenics program. According to him, in each settlement it was necessary to equip the best houses, where the best brilliant representatives of both sexes should have lived, for whose marriage and subsequent childbearing it was necessary to obtain permission from above. Thus, in a few generations, the proportion of gifted people and geniuses in each city would rapidly increase.

Science fiction writer

Science fiction works of Tsiolkovsky are little known to a wide range of readers. Perhaps because they are closely related to his scientific works. Very close to science fiction is his early work Free Space, written in 1883 (published in 1954). Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky is the author of science fiction works: "Dreams of the Earth and Sky" (collection of works), "On the West", the story "On the Moon" (first published in the supplement to the magazine "Around the World" in 1893, repeatedly reprinted during the Soviet era).

Compositions

Collections and collections of works

Works on rocket navigation, interplanetary communications and others

Personal archive

On May 15, 2008, the Russian Academy of Sciences, curator of the personal archive of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, published it on its website. These are 5 inventories of fund 555, which contain 31680 sheets of archival documents.

Awards

Order of St. Stanislaus 3rd class. For conscientious work presented for an award in May 1906, issued in August.
Order of St. Anne 3rd class. Awarded in May 1911 for conscientious work, at the request of the council of the Kaluga Diocesan Women's School.
For special merits in the field of inventions of great importance for the economic power and defense of the USSR, Tsiolkovsky was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1932. The award is dedicated to the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the scientist.

perpetuation of memory

On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Tsiolkovsky in 1954, the Academy of Sciences of the USSR established a gold medal to them. K. E. Tsiolkovsky "3a outstanding work in the field of interplanetary communications."
Monuments to the scientist were erected in Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Dolgoprudny, St. Petersburg; a memorial house-museum was created in Kaluga, a house-museum in Borovsk and a house-museum in Kirov (former Vyatka); the State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics and the Pedagogical Institute (now Kaluga State University), a school in Kaluga, and the Moscow Aviation Technology Institute bear his name.
A crater on the Moon and a minor planet 1590 Tsiolkovskaja are named after Tsiolkovsky.
In Moscow, St. Petersburg, Irkutsk, Lipetsk, Tyumen, Kirov, Ryazan, Voronezh, as well as in many other settlements, there are streets named after him.
Since 1966, Scientific Readings in memory of K. E. Tsiolkovsky have been held in Kaluga.
In 1991, the Academy of Cosmonautics named after A.I. K. E. Tsiolkovsky. On June 16, 1999, the Academy was given the name "Russian".
On January 31, 2002, the Tsiolkovsky Sign was established - the highest departmental award of the Federal Space Agency.
In the year of the 150th anniversary of the birth of K. E. Tsiolkovsky, the Progress M-61 cargo ship was named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and a portrait of the scientist was placed on the head fairing. The launch took place on August 2, 2007.
In the late 1980s-early 1990s. The project of the Soviet automatic interplanetary station "Tsiolkovsky" for the study of the Sun and Jupiter was developed, which was planned to be launched in the 1990s, but not implemented due to the collapse of the USSR.
In February 2008, K. E. Tsiolkovsky was awarded a public award - the medal "Symbol of Science", "for creating the source of all projects for the exploration of new spaces by man in Space."
Postage stamps dedicated to Tsiolkovsky were issued in the USSR and Kazakhstan.
One of the Aeroflot Airbus A321 aircraft is named after K. E. Tsiolkovsky.
Traditional motocross competitions dedicated to the memory of Tsiolkovsky are held annually in Kaluga.

Monuments

Numismatics and philately

Movies

"Space Prophet", a documentary film about K. E. Tsiolkovsky by the Roscosmos television studio.
"Space flight", Tsiolkovsky acted as a scientific consultant.

In feature films, the image of Tsiolkovsky was embodied by:

Georgy Solovyov (Road to the Stars, 1957)
Y. Koltsov ("Man from Planet Earth", 1958)
Innokenty Smoktunovsky ("Taming the Fire", 1972)
Evgeny Yevtushenko ("Rise", 1979)
Sergei Yursky (Korolyov, 2006)

In September 2007, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of K. E. Tsiolkovsky, a new monument was opened in Borovsk on the site of the previously destroyed one. The monument is made in the popular folklore style and depicts the scientist already elderly, sitting on a stump and looking at the sky. The project was perceived ambiguously by the residents of the city and specialists studying the scientific and creative heritage of Tsiolkovsky. At the same time, as part of the Days of Russia in Australia, a copy of the monument was installed in the Australian city of Brisbane, near the entrance to the Observatory on Mount Kutta.
Alexander Belyaev, inspired by the genius of Konstantin Eduardovich, wrote the sci-fi novel "KETs Star", which reflects many of the inventor's ideas. In addition, "KETs" in this heading stands for "Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky."
On September 17, 2012, in honor of the 155th anniversary of the birth of K. E. Tsiolkovsky, Google posted a festive doodle on its main page.

> > Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

Biography of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935)

Short biography:

Place of Birth: Izhevsk,
Ryazan province,
Russian empire

A place of death: Kaluga, Russian SFSR, USSR

- Soviet scientist and inventor: biography with photo, contribution to science and culture, the first rocket model, aerodynamic experiments.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was a Russian scientist who studied aeronautics, aerodynamics and astronautics, invented the rocket and explored space. Tsiolkovsky - the developer of the first rocket model for space flight. But his life ended before launch.

The birthplace of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky was Izhevsk. His father, Eduard Ignatievich, was known as a Polish nobleman with an average income, and his mother, Maria Ivanovna Yumasheva, was of Tatar origin. The future scientist got an "explosive mixture" of genes. Nine-year-old Kostya Tsiolkovsky was struck by scarlet fever, and its complications led to deafness.

Four years later, he lost his mother. These two tragedies were destined to play a decisive role in shaping Konstantin's life scenario. The future scientist had to engage in self-education at home, which led to the development of isolation in the child. He was only friends with books. He became very interested in mathematics, physics and space. 16-year-old Tsiolkovsky in Moscow was to study chemistry, mathematics, astronomy and mechanics for three years.

Communication with others was carried out using a special hearing aid. But the cost of living in Moscow was quite high and Tsiolkovsky, despite all his efforts, failed to obtain sufficient funds, and in 1876, at the insistence of his father, he ended up in Vyatka. After passing the exams and receiving a teacher's diploma, he began teaching. Borovskoye school, where he worked, was located at a distance of one hundred kilometers from Belokamennaya. It fell to him to marry in Borovsk, Varvara Efgrafovna Sokolova became his wife.

Russian scientific centers were far away, deafness did not leave, but this did not prevent Tsiolkovsky from doing independent aerodynamic research. First, he developed the kinetic theory of gases. In response to his message with calculations to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society, Mendeleev said that this theory had already been discovered a quarter of a century ago. Tsiolkovsky managed to survive this blow, and did not stop research. Petersburg drew attention to a gifted and extraordinary Vyatka teacher, he received an offer of membership in the aforementioned society.

Since 1892, Kaluga became the place of work of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. The teacher's studies in science, astronautics and aeronautics continued. At the new location, Tsiolkovsky carried out the construction of a special tunnel to measure various aerodynamic indicators that characterize aircraft. The Physico-Chemical Society did not allocate any funds for experiments, the scientist continued research using family savings. Tsiolkovsky's money went to experimental models (over 100) and their testing. When the society finally allocated financial support to the Kaluga genius in the amount of 470 rubles, Tsiolkovsky carried out the construction of a new, improved tunnel.

Aerodynamic experiments increased Tsiolkovsky's interest in space problems. 1895 was the year of the publication of his "Dreams of the Earth and Sky", the following year he published an article on other worlds, intelligent beings inhabiting other planets, and their communication with earthlings. At the same time, Tsiolkovsky began writing "Space exploration using a jet engine." The book, which became the main work of the scientist, was devoted to the problems associated with the use of rocket engines in outer space - navigation mechanisms, the supply and transportation of fuel, etc.

The first fifteen years of the twentieth century can be said to be the most difficult of those lived by a scientist. 1902 was the year of the suicide of his son Ignatius. In 1908, the Oka flooded so that the house was flooded, which led to the loss of many cars, exhibits and unique calculations. The physico-chemical society did not give a proper assessment of the significance and revolutionary nature that were inherent in the iron models of Tsiolkovsky.

The Bolsheviks, having gained power, to some extent changed the situation - the new government became interested in the developments of the scientist, which resulted in the provision of significant material support to Tsiolkovsky. The year 1919 brought Tsiolkovsky an election as a member of the Socialist Academy (later becoming the Academy of Sciences of the USSR), from November 9, 1921, the scientist received a lifetime pension, as a person who enriched domestic and world science. This pension was paid until September 19, 1935, the day of the death of the greatest man, Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky. The place of death was Kaluga, already native to the scientist.

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, an outstanding researcher, a prominent 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 Izhevsky, Ryazan province, into the family of forester Eduard Ignatievich Tsiolkovsky. He grew up as a smart, inquisitive and impressionable child. Already in these years, the character of the future scientist was formed - independent, persistent and purposeful. “I think that I received a combination of the strong will of my father with the talent of my mother,” Tsiolkovsky wrote later.

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.

Outstanding abilities, the son's propensity for independent work and invention made his father 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 field of mathematics, physics and astronomy.

After returning from Moscow in the fall of 1879, Tsiolkovsky externally passed the exam at the Ryazan gymnasium for the title of teacher of county schools and three months later was assigned 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 dealt with aeronautics a lot.

His first scientific work on aeronautics "Metal balloon, controlled" was published in 1892.

In the same year, in connection with the transfer of Tsiolkovsky 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 purchase a small house on the outskirts of the city.

In 1903, Tsiolkovsky's first article on rocketry, "Investigation of World Spaces with Reactive Devices," appeared in the journal "Scientific Review" No. 5. In this work, the scientist for the first time for the real implementation of space flight proposed a project for a liquid rocket, substantiated the theory of its flight.

The first part of Tsiolkovsky's article "Investigation of the World Spaces with Reactive Devices" went unnoticed by the wide scientific community. The second part, published in the journal Aeronautics Bulletin, was published in 1911-1912 and caused a great resonance. Well-known popularizers of science and technology V.V. Ryumin, Ya.I. Perelman and N.A. Rynin engaged in the dissemination of Tsiolkovsky's space ideas, and eventually became his true friends. Tsiolkovsky was also greatly assisted 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 "Supplement to the" Study of World Spaces with Reactive Devices ".

Scientific activity occupied all of Tsiolkovsky's free time, but the main work for many years was still a teacher's work. His lessons aroused students' interest, 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 was supported by the state. In 1918 Tsiolkovsky was elected a member of the Socialist Academy. In 1921, Tsiolkovsky was granted an increased personal pension.

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

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

The government awarded the scientist with the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for "special merits in the field of inventions of great importance for the economic power and defense of the USSR." The award ceremony took place in the Kremlin on November 27, 1932. Accepting the order, Tsiolkovsky said: “I can thank the Government for this high award only with my work. Saying thank you doesn't make any sense."

The scientist set to work with renewed vigor, he still paid a lot of attention to scientific work, the promotion of scientific knowledge, and did a lot of social work. Tsiolkovsky met with workers, scientists, 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.

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

·

Origin. Rod Tsiolkovsky

Parents of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

Biography

Origin. Rod Tsiolkovsky

Parents of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

Childhood. Izhevsk. Ryazan (1857-1868)

Vyatka. High school education. Mother's death (1869-1873)

Moscow. Self-education. Meeting with Nikolai Fedorov (1873-1876)

Return to Vyatka. Tutoring (1876-1878)

Return to Ryazan. Examinations for the title of teacher (1878-1880)

Borovsk. Family creation. School work. First scientific works and publications (1880-1892)

Arrival in Borovsk and marriage

School work

The first scientific works. Russian Physical and Chemical Society

The theory of the metal airship. Society of Natural Science Lovers. Russian Technical Society

Other jobs. The first science fiction work. First publications

A family

Relations with Borovets

Transfer to Kaluga

Kaluga (1892-1935)

The first years of life in Kaluga (1892-1902)

Early 20th century (1902-1918)

Arrest and Lubyanka

Correspondence between Tsiolkovsky and Zabolotsky (since 1932)

Scientific achievements

Aeronautics and aerodynamics

Fundamentals of jet propulsion theory

Mechanics of bodies of variable composition

rocket dynamics

Theoretical astronautics

Tsiolkovsky and Oberth

Research in other fields

Tsiolkovsky and music

Tsiolkovsky as an opponent of Einstein's theory of relativity

Philosophical views

Space device

The evolution of the mind

Human evolution

Other sentient beings

The Spread of Intelligence in the Universe

Panpsychism, the mind of the atom and immortality

Cosmic optimism

Space Ages and "Radiant Humanity"

Eugenic theories of Tsiolkovsky

Science fiction writer

Compositions

Collections and collections of works

Works on rocket navigation, interplanetary communications and others

Personal archive

Awards

perpetuation of memory

Monuments

Numismatics and philately

Movies

Biography of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935)

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