William Leitch (scientist)
William Leitch | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 20, 1814 |
| Died | May 9, 1864 (aged 49) |
| Resting place | Palace of Monimail, Fife, Scotland |
| Citizenship | Scotish |
| Education | Bachelor of Arts, 1837 Master of Arts, 1838 Doctor of Divinity, 1860 |
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow |
| Known for | Earliest known scientific description of rocket-powered spaceflight |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy, Natural history, Mathematics |
William Leitch (1814-1864) was a Presbyterian minister who was born in Scotland, studied mathematics and science at the University of Glasgow, and moved to Canada in 1859 to take a post at Queen's University. He is credited with the first modern scientific explanation of the potential for future exploration of outer space using rockets (1861).[1] He was said to be "a distinguished astronomer, naturalist and mathematician",[2] and his proposal for rocket spaceflight came decades prior to more well-known proposals by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1903), Robert Esnault-Pelterie (1913), Robert H. Goddard (1914), and Hermann Oberth (1923). Leitch's rocket spaceflight description was first provided in his 1861 essay "A Journey Through Space", which was later published in his book God's Glory in the Heavens (1862).[3] This description correctly attributed rocket thrust to the "internal reaction" (Newton's laws of motion) and correctly identified that rocket thrust is most effective in the vacuum of space.
References
- ^ Godwin, R. "The First Scientific Concept of Rockets for Space Travel." The Space Library, 04 Oct 2015.
- ^ Dictionary of Canadian Biogaphy
- ^ Leitch, God's Glory in the Heavens, Google Books