Abstract: Tsiolkovsky. Biography and main scientific works. Interesting facts about Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
A representative of an ancient Polish noble family, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was born in a small Ryazan village, worked as a simple school teacher and lived all his life in the most modest conditions. At the same time, he created great works on philosophy, sociology, aerodynamics and astronautics, became the founder of various scientific theories, wrote science fiction works, revised the Gospel and actively challenged the theories of Albert Einstein. On Tsiolkovsky's birthday website talks about the most incredible inventions, thoughts and hypotheses of the scientist.
Airship Tsiolkovsky
“In 1885, at the age of 28, I firmly decided to devote myself to aeronautics and theoretically develop a metal controlled balloon,” Konstantin Eduardovich writes in his autobiography. The word "airship" at that time did not exist at all, and balloons had small volumes, their dome was made of rubberized fabric, which quickly wore out and released explosive hydrogen.
Tsiolkovsky was the first to propose a completely new and original idea a balloon with a thin metal shell with corrugated sidewalls, which would allow maintaining a constant lift at different flight altitudes and temperatures atmospheric air. In addition, such a shell was extremely durable. Instead of hydrogen, the scientist suggested using heated air. The Tsiolkovsky balloon was supposed to be huge even by modern standards: up to 500,000 cubic meters, which was more than twice the volume of the famous German airships of the late 1920s, the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin II.
Tsiolkovsky and models of his airship. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Tsiolkovsky's project, progressive for its time, did not find support; they refused subsidies for the construction of the model. Konstantin Eduardovich even contacted the General Staff of the Russian Army for help, but even there they considered his invention fantastic. In general, Tsiolkovsky's works on the airship did not receive recognition from official representatives Russian science.
The first attempt to implement the project was made only in 1931, when they tried to build an airship according to the Tsiolkovsky project at the Dirizhablestroy plant. The balloon was never built "due to the low technological level of the enterprise." But subsequently, the engineers were convinced that the theoretical assumptions of the scientist were correct.
Monoplane
German monoplane from the First World War. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
In 1894, in his article "A balloon or a bird-like (aircraft) flying machine", Tsiolkovsky anticipated the design of monoplanes - aircraft that began to be built in advanced countries only two decades later. Konstantin Eduardovich for the first time gave a description, calculations and drawings of an all-metal monoplane with a thick curved wing, and also substantiated the position on the need to improve the streamlining of an airplane fuselage in order to obtain high speeds. Before the First World War, German monoplanes amazed the imagination of contemporaries, but not long before that, Russian science again did not take Tsiolkovsky's project seriously.
lunar landscape
In 1887, Tsiolkovsky wrote the science fiction novel "On the Moon". It seemed that the same “small step for a man and a huge leap for mankind” was made by a simple teacher more than 80 years before its incarnation - the Apollo landing.
In honor of Tsiolkovsky, who described the lunar landscape in such detail, a crater on the far side of the Moon was named. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
"Dark picture! Even the mountains are naked, shamelessly stripped, because we do not see a light veil on them - a transparent bluish haze that the air throws over earthly mountains and distant objects ... Strict, amazingly distinct landscapes! And the shadows! Oh, how dark! And what abrupt transitions from darkness to light! There are no those soft modulations to which we are so accustomed and which only the atmosphere can give. Even the Sahara - and that would seem like a paradise in comparison with what we saw here, ”writes Tsiolkovsky on behalf of the narrator.
In addition, the author describes in detail and amazingly accurately the view of the Sun and the Earth from the surface of the Moon. After analyzing the consequences of low gravity, the absence of an atmosphere, the writer anticipates the behavior of liquids and gases, evaporation, boiling, and other physical processes.
Prototype wind tunnel and landing gear
Modern NASA wind tunnel. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Tsiolkovsky not only created the first aerodynamic laboratory in Russia in his apartment, but also in 1897 independently built a prototype of the first wind tunnel of his own original design - a technical device designed to simulate the impact of the environment on bodies moving in it. According to this prototype, under the guidance of the great Russian engineer Nikolai Zhukovsky, a wind tunnel was created in 1902 at the mechanical office of Moscow University.
Subsequently, Zhukovsky admitted that it was Tsiolkovsky's work on aerodynamics that became the source of his ideas. Also in this area, Tsiolkovsky owns the invention of his own scheme of a gas turbine engine, and the scientist was the first to propose “retractable bottom of the body” aircraft landing gear.
Hovercraft
In 1927, in a small pamphlet "Air Resistance and a Fast Train", Tsiolkovsky published the theory and scheme of a hovercraft train.
“The friction of the train is almost destroyed by the excess air between the floor of the car and the tight railroad tracks. Work is needed to pump up the air, which continuously leaks along the edges of the gap between the car and the track. It is great, while the lifting power of a train can be enormous. So, if the overpressure is one tenth of an atmosphere, then for each square meter of the base of the car there will be a lifting force of one ton. This is 5 times more than is necessary for light wagons.
No need, of course, wheels and lubrication. The thrust is supported by the rear movement of air escaping from the opening of the car. The inflation work here is also quite moderate (if the car has a good, easily streamlined shape of a bird or fish), it is possible to get huge speeds, ”wrote Tsiolkovsky.
This theory formed the basis for the creation of hovercraft many years later: the first sea flat-bottomed hovercraft entered service in England only in 1958.
Multistage rocket
Modern rockets fly according to the principle developed by Tsiolkovsky. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vitaly Belousov
In 1929, Tsiolkovsky published a new book - Space Rocket Trains. Tsiolkovsky's "rocket trains" are complexes of missiles that, as the fuel is used up, are dropped to the ground. The scientist suggested that thanks to this principle, by the time the last rocket was disconnected, the speed of the train would allow it to fly away into space. In 1935, in his work “The Highest Rocket Speed”, Konstantin Eduardovich proved that, at the level of technology of that time, it was possible to achieve the first cosmic speed (on Earth) only with the help of a multi-stage rocket. This statement remains true to this day, but they were only able to test Tsiolkovsky's theory in practice in 1944, when the Germans launched the V-2, the first object in history to make a suborbital space flight.
space elevator
An elevator that can take a person into space, invented by Tsiolkovsky, is now being developed by NASA. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
The elevator, with which you can get into space, is also the idea of Tsiolkovsky. The description and design of such a device Konstantin Eduardovich outlined in his work of 1895. As planned by the scientist, the space elevator resembled a tower (by the way, the Eiffel Tower, which was built in Paris after the publication of Tsiolkovsky's project). The tower was supposed to be 100 thousand times higher than usual - 35 thousand kilometers, and its top would move at a speed of 11 kilometers per second. Later, this speed was called the second space speed, and now interplanetary vehicles fly with it. And only in 2005, NASA announced a competition for the creation of a modern space elevator project.
The theoretical studies of space and the possibilities of its exploration, carried out by Tsiolkovsky, cannot but amaze: relying only on calculations, the scientist described weightlessness, the need for a spacesuit when exiting a rocket, determined the optimal flight paths when descending to Earth, predicted the creation of artificial Earth satellites and orbital stations.
Much of what Tsiolkovsky described - from the settlement of the universe to the mind of the atom and immortality - goes so far beyond modern science that it is difficult to guess how real these hypotheses are. However, science cannot disprove them.
The biography of Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich began in the village of Izhevskoye near the city of Ryazan. Father, Eduard Ignatievich, worked as a local forester, and his wife Maria Ivanovna was engaged in raising children and doing housework.
In 1860, the Tsiolkovsky family moved to the provincial center, where the mother began teaching her sons to read and write.
In 1868 the Tsiolkovskys moved again. This time, so that their children could study at the gymnasium, they settled in Vyatka. At the age of 9, young Konstantin fell ill with scarlet fever, which made him deaf for the rest of his life. In the same year, their older brother, Dmitry, also died in their family. Maria Ivanovna also died the following year.
Such blows of fate affected the educational process and the development of deafness.
In 1873, Tsiolkovsky was expelled from the gymnasium for poor academic performance. For the rest of his life, he will study at home, reading books.
The path to knowledge
At the age of 16, Tsiolkovsky moved to Moscow. He independently comprehends chemistry, mechanics, astronomy, mathematics and visits the Chertkovo library. There he met N. F. Fedorov, one of the first who began to develop the ideas of Russian cosmism. He was practically deaf and carried a hearing aid with him everywhere.
All the money that Konstantin Eduardovich had at his disposal was spent on the purchase of books. When the financial reserves came to an end, the young man returned to Vyatka in 1876, where he began working as a tutor. He always tried to show the work of the mechanisms with illustrative examples. He made mechanisms for children on his own. Due to constant reading, he developed myopia and the future scientist had to wear glasses.
In 1878 Tsiolkovsky returned to Ryazan. There he receives a teacher's diploma, having passed all the necessary exams. There are such sad pages in Tsiolkovsky's brief biography: the fire of 1887 and the flooding of his house by the river during the spring flood. Then the most important works of the scientist were lost - modules, drawings, models and other property.
The scientist devoted a large amount of free time to studying the theory of balloons. He outlined his theoretical research in the work "Theory and Experience of the Balloon", written in 1885-1886.
Kaluga period
Konstantin Eduardovich changed his place of residence to Kaluga in 1892. Here he could study the sciences related to space and earn a living teaching arithmetic and geometry. For his experiments, he built a special tunnel, where he studied jet propulsion.
Tsiolkovsky, living in Kaluga, compiled an invaluable work on space biology. He believed that the future belongs to astronautics and fruitfully worked in this direction.
His savings for new experiments were not always enough, and Tsiolkovsky asked for financial support from the Physico-Chemical Society, which refused this, not seeing the point in his research. Only when practical experiments began to give visible results, he was allocated 470 rubles.
In 1895, he wrote the work "Dreams of the Earth and Sky", and a year later - "Exploration of outer space with the help of a jet engine." In his writings, he was more than half a century ahead of the scientific thought of mankind.
last years of life
The content of Tsiolkovsky's works aroused genuine interest among the Soviet authorities. In November 1919 he was arrested and sent to the Lubyanka. He was remembered after G. Oberth began to present similar scientific research in Germany. The leadership of the USSR highly appreciated the scientific achievements of the scientist and provided Tsiolkovsky with optimal conditions for productive work and assigned a lifetime pension.
Tsiolkovsky died in Kaluga in 1935. The cause of death was stomach cancer.
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, Russian and Soviet inventor, self-taught scientist, founder of theoretical cosmonautics, was born on September 17, 1857. Being almost completely deaf from childhood, the scientist could not get a general education at the gymnasium and university. But his passion for invention made him a world-famous scientist. Today we will tell you about five brilliant inventions of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.
Airship, aka metal balloon
The first of the inventions of Tsiolkovsky, which received mass distribution. Already in 1890, the scientist prepared a document for patenting "On the possibility of building a metal balloon." The main achievement was the fact that there was no explosive hydrogen in the dome - the airship was filled with hot air.
Airplane. From hate to love
In 1894, the publication of the work "Airplane, or Bird-like (aircraft) flying machine" was published. In an article originally conceived for a critical study of balloons, Tsiolkovsky came to completely different conclusions and was far ahead of his time. It was in this work that the ideas of a monoplane, an autopilot and the use of gyroscopes in aviation were expressed.
rocket invention
In 1903, he managed to publish a work entitled "The study of world spaces by rocket instruments", where he completely proved the impossibility of going into space in a balloon or with the help of artillery piece; He deduced the relationship between the weight of the fuel and the weight of the rocket structures to overcome the force of gravity. He also expressed the idea of an onboard orientation system to the Sun or other celestial bodies and analyzed the behavior of the rocket outside the atmosphere, in a gravity-free environment.
Tsiolkovsky's formula
This is the basic equation of motion of the rocket, which determines its characteristic speed; published by Tsiolkovsky in 1903 in the work "Research of world spaces by jet devices". According to the Tsiolkovsky formula, maximum speed, which can be obtained by a single-stage rocket in the ideal case, when its flight takes place not only outside the atmosphere, but also outside the Earth's gravitational field. Tsiolkovsky considers the initial velocity of the rocket to be zero.
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
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 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 Samoilovich, 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.
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 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.
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. Lacking any significant privileges from their nobility, they long time forgot about him and about his 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 Forest and 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 in the Spassky district, where they lived until 1860.
Childhood. Izhevsk. Ryazan (1857-1868)
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.
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.
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 would write later.
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. 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 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 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.
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 paper model 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.
Moscow. Self-education. Meeting with Nikolai Fedorov (1873-1876)
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.
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 schedule. 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.
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 already begin independent work in the provinces, as well as continue their education outside of Moscow. In the autumn of 1876, Eduard Ignatievich called his son back to Vyatka, and Konstantin returned home.
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. All your own free time spent 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.
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 affected (except for the sons of Dmitry and Ignatius in these years, the Tsiolkovskys lost the most youngest daughter- Catherine - she died in 1875, during the absence of Konstantin), the head of the family retired. 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.
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 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)
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.
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
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.
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
After classes at the school and on weekends, Tsiolkovsky continued his research at home: he worked on manuscripts, made drawings, and experimented. In his house they sparkle electric lightning, thunders rumble, bells ring, paper dolls dance.
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. Second scientific work submitted to the RFHO was the 1882 article "Mechanics of a Likely 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 gravity) and gas dynamics (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. It's kind of thought experiment, the narration is conducted on behalf of an observer who is in 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 first formulated by Tsiolkovsky principle of uniquely possible method 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 brought drawings general types 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 consequence of the insufficient study of his first manuscript on the balloon, Tsiolkovsky writes 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 denial of support, Tsiolkovsky sent thank you letter at IRTO. A small consolation was the message in the Kaluga Gubernskiye Vedomosti, and then in some other newspapers: Novosti dniy, 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 (the 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 air. atmospheric pressure- 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, based on experiments on air resistance, he wrote big job"On the Question of Flying with 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.
Family
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 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).
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 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
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 environments, and also expected the publication of the book "Metal controlled balloon" in the 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.
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, the theory jet propulsion, 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, 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.
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).
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. In the 6th edition of the collection of the circle, Tsiolkovsky's article "Gravity as the main source of world energy" (1893) was published, developing the ideas of the early work "The Duration of the Sun's Radiation" (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 Kaluga, Tsiolkovsky also did not forget about science, about astronautics and aeronautics. He built 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 airborne vehicles gradually led Tsiolkovsky to think about options for flight in 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 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 Science 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
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 information, a certain dignitary, as a result of which the scientist was released.
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 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 scientist's death, 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.
First Scientific research Tsiolkovsky belong 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 big problems: scientific substantiation of an all-metal balloon (airship), a streamlined airplane, a hovercraft 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, support from official organizations the Tsiolkovsky airship project, progressive for its time, was not received; 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 held theoretical study rectilinear motions of the 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 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.
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.
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 fuels; 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 rocket was proposed for flights in outer space. liquid fuel(at the same time, the possibility of using electric jet engines was indicated), the basics of the flight dynamics 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 the social significance of the entire complex of human space activities was analyzed.
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-story 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 "The Stargazer and Fellow Countrymen", claimed that Tsiolkovsky wrote letters to him, "where he angrily argued with Einstein, reproaching him ... for 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 - "a multitude of planets illuminated by sunbeams”, 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 (rarefied gas) and a 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, on different planets creatures adapted to the appropriate environment will be formed. 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 "martyr's and honorable role of the Earth", martyr's - 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 "mind 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 pedagogical institute(now Kaluga State University), school in Kaluga, Moscow Aviation Technology Institute.
- 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 “Symbol of Science” medal, “for creating the source of all projects for the exploration of new spaces by man in the Cosmos.”
- 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
Films
- "Space Prophet" documentary about K. E. Tsiolkovsky of 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 Australian city Brisbane, near the entrance to Mount Kutta Observatory.
- Alexander Belyaev, inspired by the genius of Konstantin Eduardovich, wrote the sci-fi novel "KETs Star", which reflects many of the ideas of the inventor. 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
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 life scenario Constantine. 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 three years engage in the study of chemistry, mathematics, astronomy and mechanics.
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 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 aircrafts. 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 society was finally singled out financial support 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 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.