Tsiolkovsky’s biography is interesting not only in terms of achievements, although this great scientist had a lot of them. Konstantin Eduardovich is known to many as the developer of the first model of a rocket capable of flying into outer space. In addition, he is a well-known scientist in the field of aeronautics, aerodynamics and aeronautics. This is a world-famous space explorer. Tsiolkovsky’s biography is an example of persistence in achieving a goal. Even in the most difficult life circumstances, he did not refuse to continue his scientific activity.
Origin, childhood
Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich (years of life - 1857-1935) was born on September 17, 1857 near Ryazan, in the village of Izhevskoye. However, he did not live here very long. When he was 3 years old, Eduard Ignatievich, the father of the future scientist, began to have difficulties in the service. Because of this, the Tsiolkovsky family moved to Ryazan in 1860.
Mother was engaged in primary education of Konstantin and his brothers. It was she who taught him to write and read, and also introduced the basics of arithmetic. "Tales" by Alexander Afanasyev is a book by which Tsiolkovsky learned to read. His mother taught her son only the alphabet, and how to make words from letters, Kostya guessed himself.
When the boy was 9 years old, he caught a cold after sledding and became ill with scarlet fever. The disease proceeded with a complication, as a result of which Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky lost his hearing. Deaf Konstantin did not despair, did not lose interest in life. It was at this time that he began to get involved in craftsmanship. Tsiolkovsky fell in love with making various figures out of paper.
Eduard Ignatievich in 1868 was again left without work. The family moved to Vyatka. Here the brothers helped Edward get a new position.
Schooling, death of brother and mother
Konstantin, together with Ignatius, his younger brother, began to study at the Vyatka gymnasium for men in 1869. With great difficulty, learning was given to him - there were many subjects, and the teachers turned out to be strict. In addition, deafness greatly interfered with the boy. The death of Dmitry, the elder brother of Constantine, belongs to the same year. She shocked the whole family, but most of all - her mother, Maria Ivanovna (her photo is presented above), which Kostya loved very much. In 1870, she died unexpectedly.
The death of his mother shocked the boy. And before that, Tsiolkovsky, who did not shine with knowledge, began to learn worse and worse. He became more and more acutely aware of his deafness, which made him more and more isolated. It is known that Tsiolkovsky was often punished because of his pranks, even got into a punishment cell. Konstantin in the second grade remained in the second year. And then, from the third class (in 1873), he was expelled. Tsiolkovsky never studied anywhere else. Since that time, he studied independently.
Self education
It was then that Konstantin Eduardovich found a real vocation. The young man began to receive education on his own. Books, unlike gymnasium teachers, generously endowed Tsiolkovsky with knowledge and never reproached. Then Konstantin joined the scientific and technical work. Tsiolkovsky created a lathe at home, as well as a number of other interesting inventions.
Life in Moscow
Eduard Ignatievich, believing in the ability of his son, decided to send him to Moscow to enroll in the Higher Technical School (today it is Bauman Moscow State Technical University). This happened in July 1873. However, Kostya did not enter the school for an unknown reason. He continued to study independently in Moscow. Tsiolkovsky lived very poorly, but persistently sought knowledge. He spent on appliances and books all the money he had sent from his father.
The young man went to the Chertkov Public Library every day, where he studied science. Here he met Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov, the founder of Russian cosmism. This man replaced Konstantin with university professors.
Tsiolkovsky in his first year of life in Moscow studied physics, as well as the beginnings of mathematics. They were followed by integral and differential calculus, spherical and analytic geometry, and higher algebra. Later, Konstantin studied mechanics, chemistry, astronomy. For 3 years, he fully mastered the program of the gymnasium, as well as the bulk of the university. Father by this time could no longer support the life of Tsiolkovsky in Moscow. Constantine returned home in the fall of 1876, exhausted and weakened.
Private lessons
Hard work and harsh conditions led to poor vision. Tsiolkovsky began to wear glasses after returning home. Having regained his strength, he began to give private lessons in mathematics and physics. After some time, he no longer needed students, since he showed himself to be an excellent teacher. Tsiolkovsky used the methods developed by himself when conducting lessons, among which the main one was a visual demonstration. Tsiolkovsky for models of geometry made models of polyhedra from paper, carried out experiments on physics with students . By this, he earned the glory of a teacher who clearly explains the material. The students loved Tsiolkovsky's classes, which were always interesting.
Brother's death, successful exam
Ignatius, the younger brother of Constantine, died at the end of 1876. The brothers were very close since childhood, so his death was a big blow to Constantine. The Tsiolkovsky family returned to Ryazan in 1878.
Konstantin immediately after his arrival underwent a medical examination, as a result of which he was released from military service due to deafness. In order to continue working as a teacher, a proven qualification was required. And Tsiolkovsky coped with this task - in the fall of 1879 he passed the exam as an external student at the First Provincial Gymnasium. Now officially became a mathematics teacher Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich.
Personal life
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the summer of 1880 married the daughter of the owner of the room in which he lived. And in January 1881, Eduard Ignatievich died.
Children of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky: daughter Love and three sons - Ignatius, Alexander and Ivan.
Work in the Borovsk district school, the first scientific works
Konstantin Eduardovich worked as a teacher at the Borovsk district school, while continuing to study at home. He made drawings, worked on manuscripts, and set up experiments. His first work was written on the topic of mechanics in biology. Konstantin Eduardovich in 1881 created his first work, which can be considered truly scientific. This is a "gas theory". However, then he learned from D.I. Mendeleev, that the discovery of this theory occurred 10 years ago. Tsiolkovsky, despite the failure, continued his research.
Balloon design development
One of the main problems that occupied him for a long time was the theory of balloons. After some time, Tsiolkovsky realized that it was this task that should be paid attention to. The scientist developed his own balloon design. The result of the work was the work of Konstantin Eduardovich "Theory and experience of a balloon ..." (1885-86). In this work, the creation of a fundamentally new design of an airship having a thin metal shell was justified.
Fire in Tsiolkovsky’s house
Tsiolkovsky’s biography is marked by the tragic event that occurred on April 23, 1887. On this day he returned from Moscow after a report on his invention. It was then that a fire broke out in Tsiolkovsky’s house. Models, manuscripts, a library, drawings, and all the family’s property, except for the sewing machine (they managed to throw it into the yard through a window) burned down in it. It was a very hard blow for Tsiolkovsky. He expressed his feelings and thoughts in a manuscript entitled "Prayer."
Moving to Kaluga, new works and studies
D.S. Unkovsky, director of public schools, on January 27, 1892, proposed transferring one of the “most diligent” and “most capable” teachers to the Kaluga school. Here Konstantin Eduardovich lived until the end of his days. Since 1892, he worked in the Kaluga district school as a teacher of geometry and arithmetic. Since 1899, the scientist also taught physics in the female diocesan school. Tsiolkovsky wrote in Kaluga his main works on the theory of jet propulsion, astronautics, space biology and medicine. In addition, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky continued to study the theory of a metal airship. The photo below is an image of the monument to this scientist in Moscow.
In 1921, after completion of teaching, he was assigned a life-long personal pension. From this time until his death, Tsiolkovsky’s biography was marked by an immersion in research, the implementation of projects, and the dissemination of his ideas. He was no longer teaching.
The hardest time
The most difficult for Tsiolkovsky were the first 15 years of the 20th century. Ignatius, his son, committed suicide in 1902. In addition, in 1908 his house was flooded during the flood of the Oka River. Because of this, many cars and artifacts were disabled, and numerous unique calculations were lost.
First a fire, then a flood ... It seems that Konstantin Eduardovich was not friends with the elements. By the way, I recall the 2001 fire that occurred on a Russian ship. The vessel that caught fire on July 13 of this year is Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a ship. Fortunately, no one was killed then, but the ship itself was badly damaged. Inside, everything burned down, as in the fire in 1887 that Konstantin Tsiolkovsky survived.
His biography is marked by difficulties that would break many, but not the famous scientist. And his life after a while became easier. On June 5, 1919, the Russian society of lovers of world studies made the scientist a member and assigned him a pension. This saved Konstantin Eduardovich from starvation during the period of devastation, since the Socialist Academy on June 30, 1919 did not accept him into his ranks and thereby left him without a livelihood. The significance of the models presented by Tsiolkovsky was also not appreciated in the Physicochemical Society. In 1923, Alexander, his second son, took his own life.
Party Leadership Recognition
The Soviet authorities remembered Tsiolkovsky only in 1923, after a publication by G. Obert, a German physicist, about rocket engines and space missions. The living and working conditions of Konstantin Eduardovich changed dramatically after that. The party leadership of the USSR drew attention to such a prominent scientist as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. His biography has long been marked by many achievements, but until some time they were not interested in the powers that be. And in 1923, the scientist was assigned a personal pension, provided the conditions for fruitful activity. And on November 9, 1921, they began to pay him a pension for services to science. Tsiolkovsky received these funds until September 19, 1935. It was on this day that Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky died in his native Kaluga.
Achievements
Tsiolkovsky proposed a number of ideas that have found application in rocket science. These are gas rudders designed to control missile flight; the use of fuel components to cool the outer shell of the spacecraft during the spacecraft’s entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, etc. As regards the area of rocket fuels, Tsiolkovsky proved himself here. He studied many different fuels and oxidizing agents, recommended the use of fuel vapors: oxygen with hydrocarbons or hydrogen, Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich. His inventions include a gas turbine engine circuit. In addition, in 1927 he published the scheme and theory of a hovercraft. For the first time, he proposed the chassis that extend down the bottom of the case, namely Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich. What he invented, you now know. Airship building and space flights are the main problems that the scientist devoted his whole life to.
The Museum of the History of Cosmonautics named after this scientist operates in Kaluga, where you can learn a lot, including about such a scientist as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. A photo of the museum building is presented above. In conclusion, I would like to give one phrase. Its author is Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. His quotes are known to many, and this, perhaps, you know. “The planet is the cradle of reason, but you cannot live forever in the cradle,” Tsiolkovsky once said. Today this statement is at the entrance to the park to them. Tsiolkovsky (Kaluga), where the scientist is buried.