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July 17, 2024

— Robert Goddard

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Further investigation has confirmed ...

Today marks the 55th anniversary of one of the funniest corrections ever in the history of the New York Times. But we're going to start the story with another very specific date in history.

That would be October 19, 1899, which is the day on which a 17-year-old boy in Worcester, Mass. happened to climb a cherry tree near his house in order to prune some of the dead limbs.

The boy had been in ill health for most of his life: falling behind in school and having less in common with his classmates -- thus spending his time at the library, reading voraciously, and dedicating himself to highly focused scientific experiments.

Among the books he'd recently read before climbing the tree was H.G. Wells's science fiction novel, The War of the Worlds. He recalled later that at the top of the tree, looking up at the sky, he was struck by a desire to find a way to travel to space:

We know this story because the boy in the tree was Robert Goddard, who went on to become the father of American rocketry, and who celebrated October 19 every year for the rest of his life.

Once I learned that story I liked to think about how Goddard would have felt when he marked it every year for the rest of his life. For example:

• 1917, after he'd received the first outside funding for his research on rocketry ($5,000 from the Smithsonian Institution; maybe about $117,000 today).
• 1919, when he published his first important scientific paper, "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes," which outlined his theories on rocketry and space travel.
• 1920, after the New York Times published a front-page editorial mocking him: "[A]bsurd ... Professor Goddard ... seems to lack the knowledge ladeled out in high school." (Today's quote came from what Goddard told people afterward: "Every vision is a joke until the first man accomplishes it; once realized, it becomes commonplace.")
• 1926, after Goddard successfully launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket—an event witnessed by only a few people.
• 1935, after he achieved the first flight of a rocket with a pivotable nozzle, which demonstrated the control of the rocket's direction.

Much of the long-term skepticism about Goddard's work had to do with the fact that he tended to work alone, isolated him from mainstream scientific circles. He was a solitary figure, fiercely protective of his ideas and patents.

This approach had its advantages, allowing him to pursue his vision without interference, but it also meant that he missed out on the collaborative benefits that come from working within a team. When he died in 1945, he'd seen relatively few of the technologies he pioneered.

But, 12 years later, the Russians launched Sputnik and we entered the Space Age, and after President Kennedy announced the plan to go to the moon by the end of the 1960s, many of the 200 innovations he'd patented became crucial to the team of scientists and engineers working on the mission.

Without Goddard's initial breakthroughs, the rapid progress of the space race might not have been possible. His contributions underscore the importance of individual innovation in laying the groundwork for collective achievement.

All of which brings us to the correction, published July 17, 1969 -- in the middle of the Apollo 11 flight to the moon -- updating its 1920 criticism:

Better late than never. Also, a little bit funnier.

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Did you see ...

• Sen. Bob Menendez was found him guilty of all the public corruption charges he faced, and politicians across the board called on him to resign immediately. “In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a brief statement. (Politico)
• Outages of 911 emergency systems have hit at least eight states this year. They’re emblematic of problems plaguing emergency communications due, in part, to wide disparities in the systems’ age and capabilities, and funding of 911 systems across the country. While some states, cities, and counties have already modernized their systems or have made plans to upgrade, many others are lagging. (USA Today)
• The Israeli military on Tuesday said it would begin sending draft notices to Jewish ultra-Orthodox men next week. The announcement followed a landmark Supreme Court order for young religious men to begin enlisting for military service. Under long-standing political arrangements, ultra-Orthodox men had been exempt from the draft, which is compulsory for most Jewish men. (AP)
• Three people were arrested in Massachusetts after police say they discovered a hidden camera aimed at homes that they believe may be part of a broader international theft group. Investigators say the three people appear to be connected to South American Theft Groups, an organized international theft group known to use extensive surveillance, GPS technology and counter-surveillance to establish patterns of behavior for their prospective victims. (WCVB)
• Grammy-nominated country artist Ingrid Andress, whose performance of the national anthem at the home run derby before the MLB All-Star game was called "one of the worst" by viewers across social media, announced Tuesday that she was drunk at the time of her performance, and is checking herself into rehab. (Today, Facebook announcement)
• I've written before about how scary this would be: Passengers on an American Airlines plane at San Francisco International Airport failed to evacuate promptly after smoke was detected on a flight Friday, July 12. Footage captured by one of the travelers, Jan Jankai, shows a flight attendant repeatedly shouting, “Go out! Go forward! Do not take your bags!” (People)
• Money for nothing: Is universal basic income about to transform society? (The Guardian)