K Etsiolkovsky short biography. Abstract: Tsiolkovsky

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is a self-taught scientist who became the founder of modern cosmonautics. His desire for the stars was not hindered by poverty, deafness, or isolation from the domestic scientific community.

Childhood in Izhevsk

The scientist wrote about his birth: “A new citizen of the universe has appeared, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky”. This happened on September 17, 1857 in the village of Izhevskoye, Ryazan province. Tsiolkovsky grew up restless: he climbed the roofs of houses and trees, and jumped from great heights. His parents called him “bird” and “blessed.” The latter concerned important feature The boy's character is daydreaming. Konstantin loved to dream out loud and “paid his younger brother” to listen to his “nonsense.”

In the winter of 1868, Tsiolkovsky fell ill with scarlet fever and, due to complications, became almost completely deaf. He found himself cut off from the world, constantly received ridicule, and considered his life “the biography of a cripple.”

After his illness, the boy became isolated and began to tinker: he drew drawings of cars with wings and even created a unit that moved using the power of steam. At this time, the family was already living in Vyatka. Konstantin tried to study at a regular school, but did not succeed: “I didn’t hear the teachers at all or heard only vague sounds”, but they did not make concessions for the “hard of hearing.” Three years later, Tsiolkovsky was expelled for poor academic performance. He no longer studied at any educational institution and remained self-taught.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Photo: tvkultura.ru

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in childhood. Photo: wikimedia.org

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Photo: cosmizm.ru

Study in Moscow

When Tsiolkovsky was 14, his father looked into his workshop. In it he discovered self-propelled carriages, windmills, a homemade astrolabe and many other amazing mechanisms. The father gave his son money and sent him to enter higher education in Moscow. technical school(now Bauman Moscow State Technical University). Konstantin reached Moscow, but did not enroll in college. Instead, he enrolled in the only free city library - Chertkovskaya - and delved into independent study of science.

Tsiolkovsky's poverty in Moscow was monstrous. He did not work, received 10–15 rubles a month from his parents and could only eat black bread: “Every three days I went to the bakery and bought 9 kopecks there. of bread. Thus, I lived on 90 kopecks. per month", he recalled. With all the remaining money, the scientist bought “books, tubes, mercury, sulfuric acid,” and other materials for experiments. Tsiolkovsky walked around in rags. It happened that boys on the street teased him: “What is it, mice or something, that ate your trousers?”

In 1876, Tsiolkovsky’s father called him home. Returning to Kirov, Konstantin began giving private lessons. The deaf Tsiolkovsky turned out to be a brilliant teacher. He made polyhedra from paper to explain geometry to his students, and in general often explained the subject through experiments. Tsiolkovsky gained fame as a talented eccentric teacher.

In 1878, the Tsiolkovskys returned to Ryazan. Konstantin rented a room and sat down to books again: he studied physical and mathematical sciences in the cycle of secondary and high school. A year later, he passed the exams as an external student at the First Gymnasium and went to teach arithmetic and geometry in the city of Borovsk in the Kaluga province.

Tsiolkovsky got married in Borovsk. “It was time to get married, and I married her without love, hoping that such a wife would not twist me around, would work and would not prevent me from doing the same. This hope was fully justified", - this is how he wrote about his wife. She was Varvara Sokolova, the daughter of a priest, in whose house the scientist rented a room.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Photo: ruspekh.ru

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Photo: biography-life.ru

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Photo: tvc.ru

First steps in science

Tsiolkovsky devoted all his strength to science and spent almost all of his teacher’s salary of 27 rubles on scientific experiments. He sent his first scientific works “Theory of Gases”, “Mechanics of the Animal Organism” and “Duration of Radiation of the Sun” to the capital. The scientific world of that time (primarily Ivan Sechenov and Alexander Stoletov) treated the self-taught man kindly. He was even offered to join the Russian Physicochemical Society. Tsiolkovsky did not respond to the invitation: he had nothing to pay membership fees.

Tsiolkovsky's relations with the academic scientific community were not easy. In 1887, he refused an invitation to meet the famous mathematics professor Sofia Kovalevskaya. Then he spent a lot of time and effort to come to the kinetic theory of gases. Dmitry Mendeleev, having studied his work, answered in bewilderment: “The kinetic theory of gases was discovered 25 years ago”.

Tsiolkovsky was a real eccentric and a dreamer. “I was always up to something. There was a river nearby. I decided to make a sleigh with a wheel. Everyone sat and pumped the levers. The sled had to race across the ice... Then I replaced this structure with a special sailing chair. Peasants traveled along the river. The horses were frightened by the rushing sail, the visitors cursed with obscene voices. But due to my deafness, I didn’t realize it for a long time.”, he recalled.

Tsiolkovsky's main project at this time was an airship. The scientist decided to avoid the use of explosive oxygen, replacing it with hot air. And the tightening system he developed allowed the “ship” to maintain a constant lifting force at different flight altitudes. Tsiolkovsky asked scientists to donate 300 rubles to him for the construction of a large metal model of an airship, but no one provided him with financial assistance.

Tsiolkovsky's interest in flying above the earth faded - he became interested in the stars. In 1887, he wrote a short story “On the Moon,” where he described the sensations of a person who landed on the earth’s satellite. A significant part of the assumptions he made in his work subsequently turned out to be correct.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky at work. Photo: kp.ru

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky at work. Photo: wikimedia.org

Conquest of space

Since 1892, Tsiolkovsky worked as a physics teacher at the diocesan women's school. To cope with his illness, the scientist made a “special auditory trumpet”, which he pressed to his ear when the students answered him the subject.

In 1903, Tsiolkovsky finally switched to work related to space exploration. In the article “Exploration of world spaces using jet instruments,” he first substantiated that a rocket could become a device for successful space flights. The scientist also developed the concept of a liquid rocket engine. In particular, he determined the speed required for the device to reach solar system(“second escape velocity”). Tsiolkovsky dealt with many practical issues of space, which later formed the basis for Soviet rocket science. He proposed options for rocket control, cooling systems, nozzle design and fuel supply system.

Since 1932, Tsiolkovsky was assigned personal doctor- It was he who discovered the scientist’s incurable disease. But Tsiolkovsky continued to work. He said: to finish what we started, we need another 15 years. But he didn’t have that time. "Citizen of the Universe" died on September 19, 1935 at the age of 78.

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (Polish: Konstanty Ciołkowski) (5 (17) September 1857, Izhevskoye, Ryazan province, Russian empire- September 19, 1935, Kaluga, USSR). Russian and Soviet self-taught scientist and inventor, school teacher. Founder of theoretical cosmonautics.

Tsiolkovsky justified the use of rockets for space flights and came to the conclusion about the need to use “ rocket trains" - prototypes of multistage rockets. Basic scientific works relate to aeronautics, rocket dynamics and astronautics.

Representative of Russian cosmism, member of the Russian Society of World Studies Lovers.

Tsiolkovsky proposed populating outer space using orbital stations, put forward ideas for a space elevator and hovercraft. He believed that the development of life on one of the planets of the Universe would reach such power and perfection that this would make it possible to overcome the forces of gravity and spread life throughout the Universe.

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

According to family legend, the Tsiolkovsky family traced its genealogy to the Cossack Severin Nalivaiko, the leader of the anti-feudal peasant-Cossack uprising in the Russian lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1594-1596.

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

However modern research do not confirm this legend. The genealogy of the Tsiolkovskys was 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 appealed to Konstantin Eduardovich himself - in fact, it is known only from himself (from autobiographical notes). In addition, in the copy of the Brockhaus and Efron encyclopedic dictionary that belonged to the scientist, the article “Nalivaiko” is crossed out with a charcoal pencil - this is how Tsiolkovsky marked the most interesting places in the books for himself.

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

TO end of the XVIII centuries, the Tsiolkovsky family became greatly impoverished. In conditions of deep crisis and collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Hard times The Polish nobility also experienced this.

In 1777, 5 years after the first partition of Poland, K. E. Tsiolkovsky’s great-grandfather Tomas (Foma) sold the Velikoye Tselkovo estate and moved to the Berdichev district of the Kyiv voivodeship in Right Bank Ukraine, and then to the Zhitomir district of the Volyn province. Many subsequent representatives of the family held minor positions in the judiciary. Without any significant privileges from their nobility, they for a long time they forgot about him and their coat of arms.

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

Konstantin's father Eduard Ignatievich Tsiolkovsky (1820-1881, full name- Makar-Edward-Erasm, Makary Edward Erazm). Born in the village of Korostyanin (now Malinovka, Goshchansky district, Rivne region in northwestern Ukraine). In 1841 he graduated from the Forestry and Land Surveying Institute in St. Petersburg, then served as a forester in the Olonets and St. Petersburg provinces. In 1843 he was transferred to the Pronsky forestry of the Spassky district of the Ryazan province. Living in the village of Izhevsk, I met my future wife Maria Ivanovna Yumasheva(1832-1870), mother of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Having Tatar roots, she was raised in the Russian tradition. The ancestors of Maria Ivanovna moved to the Pskov province under Ivan the Terrible. Her parents, small landed nobles, also owned a cooperage and basketry workshop. Maria Ivanovna was an educated woman: she graduated from high school, knew Latin, mathematics and other sciences.

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

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, while sledding at the beginning of winter, caught a cold and fell ill with scarlet fever. As a result of complications after serious illness I partially lost my hearing. There came what Konstantin Eduardovich later called “the saddest, darkest time of my life.” Hearing loss deprived the boy of many childhood fun and experiences familiar to his healthy peers. At this time, Kostya first begins to show interest in craftsmanship. “I liked making doll skates, houses, sleds, clocks with weights, etc. All of this was made of paper and cardboard and joined with sealing wax.”, he will write later.

In 1868, the 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 the father of the family had two brothers, who probably helped him get the position of head of the Forestry Department.

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

In 1869, Kostya, together with his younger brother Ignatius, entered the first class of the Vyatka men's gymnasium. Studying was very difficult, there were a lot of subjects, the teachers were strict. Deafness was a big problem: “I didn’t hear the teachers at all or heard only vague sounds”.

In a letter on August 30, 1890, Tsiolkovsky wrote: “Once again I ask you, Dmitry Ivanovich, to take my work under your protection. The oppression of circumstances, deafness from the age of ten, resulting ignorance of life and people, and others unfavourable conditions“I hope they will excuse my weakness in your eyes.”.

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

Grief crushed the orphaned boy. Already not shining with success in his studies, oppressed by the misfortunes that befell him, Kostya studied worse and worse. He became much more acutely aware of his deafness, which hampered his studies at school and made him more and more isolated. For pranks, he was repeatedly punished and ended up in a punishment cell.

In the second grade, Kostya remained for the second year, and from the third (in 1873) he was expelled with a reference “for admission to 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 natural sciences and mathematics). Unlike gymnasium teachers, books generously endowed him with knowledge and never made the slightest reproach.

At the same time, Kostya became involved in technical and scientific creativity. He independently made an astrolabe (the first distance it measured was to a fire tower), homemade lathe, self-propelled carriages and locomotives. The devices were driven by spiral springs, which Konstantin extracted from old crinolines bought at the market.

He was fond of magic 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, and is thinking about a project for a car with wings.

Believing in his son’s abilities, in July 1873, Eduard Ignatievich decided to send Konstantin to Moscow to enter the Higher Technical School (now Bauman Moscow State Technical University), providing him with cover letter to a friend asking for help to get settled. However, Konstantin lost the letter and only remembered the address: Nemetskaya Street (now Baumanskaya Street). Having reached it, 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 (my father sent me 10-15 rubles a month), I began to study hard. “I had nothing then except water and black bread. Every three days I went to the bakery and bought 9 kopecks worth of bread there. Thus, I lived on 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 Chertkovskaya 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 never recognized the famous thinker in the humble employee. “He gave me forbidden books. Then it turned out that he was a famous ascetic, a friend of Tolstoy and an amazing philosopher and modest man. He gave away all his tiny salary to the poor. Now I see that he wanted to make me his boarder, but he didn’t succeed: I was too shy.”, Konstantin Eduardovich later wrote in his autobiography.

Tsiolkovsky admitted that Fedorov replaced university professors for him. However, this influence manifested itself much later, ten years after the death of Moscow Socrates, and during his stay in Moscow, Konstantin knew nothing about the views of Nikolai Fedorovich, and they never spoke about Cosmos.

Work in the library was subject to a clear routine. In the morning, Konstantin studied exact and natural sciences, which required concentration and clarity of mind. Then he switched to simpler material: fiction and journalism. Actively studied “thick” magazines, where they were published as reviews science articles, and journalistic. I enthusiastically read Shakespeare, Turgenev, and admired the articles of Dmitry Pisarev: “Pisarev made me tremble with joy and happiness. I saw my second “I” in him then.”.

During the first year of his life in Moscow, Tsiolkovsky studied physics and the beginnings of mathematics. In 1874, the Chertkovsky 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, analytical and spherical geometry. Then astronomy, mechanics, chemistry.

In three years, Konstantin completely mastered the gymnasium curriculum, as well as a significant part of the university curriculum.

Unfortunately, his father could no longer pay for his stay in Moscow and, moreover, was not feeling well and was preparing 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 fall of 1876, Eduard Ignatievich called his son back to Vyatka, and Konstantin returned home.

Konstantin returned to Vyatka weak, emaciated and emaciated. Difficult living conditions in Moscow and intense work also led to deterioration of vision. After returning home, Tsiolkovsky began wearing glasses. Having regained his strength, Konstantin began giving private lessons in physics and mathematics. I learned my first lesson thanks to my father’s connections in liberal society. Having proven himself to be a talented teacher, he subsequently had no shortage of students.

Died at the end of 1876 younger brother Konstantina Ignatius. The brothers were very close from childhood, Konstantin trusted Ignatius with his most intimate thoughts, and his brother’s death was a heavy blow.

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

Upon returning to Ryazan, the family lived on Sadovaya Street. Immediately after his arrival, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky passed a medical examination and was released from prison. military service due to deafness. The family intended to buy a house and live on the income from it, but the unexpected 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 livelihood, since his personal savings accumulated from private lessons in Vyatka were coming to an end, and in Ryazan an unknown tutor without recommendations could not find students.

To continue working as a teacher, a certain, documented qualification was required. In the fall of 1879, at the First Provincial Gymnasium, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky took an external examination to become a district mathematics teacher. As a “self-taught” student, he had to pass a “full” exam - not only the subject itself, but also grammar, catechism, liturgy and other compulsory disciplines. Tsiolkovsky was never interested in or studied these subjects, but managed to prepare in a short time.

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

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

Upon arrival, Tsiolkovsky stayed in hotel rooms at central square cities. After a long search for more convenient housing, Tsiolkovsky, on the recommendation of the residents of Borovsk, “ended up living with a widower and his daughter who lived on the outskirts of the city” - E. E. Sokolov, a widower, a priest of the United Faith Church. He was given two rooms and a table of soup and porridge. Daughter Sokolova Varya was only two months younger than Tsiolkovsky. Her character and hard work 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, K. E. Tsiolkovsky’s father died in Ryazan.

At the Borovsky district school, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky continued to improve as a teacher: he taught arithmetic and geometry in a non-standard way, came up with exciting problems and set up amazing experiments, especially for the Borovsky boys. Several times I launched a huge paper project with my students balloon with a “gondola” in which there were burning splinters to heat the air. Sometimes Tsiolkovsky had to replace other teachers and teach lessons in drawing, drawing, history, geography, and once even replaced the school superintendent.

After classes at the school and on weekends, Tsiolkovsky continued his research at home: he worked on manuscripts, made drawings, and performed experiments.

Tsiolkovsky's very first work was devoted to the application of mechanics in biology. It became an article written in 1880 "Graphic representation of sensations". In this work, Tsiolkovsky developed the pessimistic theory of “turbulent zero”, characteristic of him at that time, and mathematically substantiated the idea of ​​meaninglessness human life(this theory, as the scientist later admitted, was destined to play a fatal role in his life and in the life of his family). Tsiolkovsky sent this article to the magazine “Russian Thought”, 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. "Theory of Gases"(the manuscript of which has not been found). One day he was visited by student Vasily Lavrov, who offered his help, since he was heading to St. Petersburg and could submit the manuscript for consideration to the Russian Physicochemical Society (RFCS), a very authoritative scientific community in Russia at that time (Lavrov later transferred two following works by Tsiolkovsky). “The Theory of Gases” was written by Tsiolkovsky based on the books he had. Tsiolkovsky independently developed the foundations of the kinetic theory of gases.

Soon Tsiolkovsky received an answer from Mendeleev: the kinetic theory of gases was discovered 25 years ago. This fact became an unpleasant discovery for Konstantin; the reasons for his ignorance were isolation from the scientific community and lack of access to modern scientific literature. Despite the failure, Tsiolkovsky continued his research.

The second scientific work transferred to the Russian Federal Chemical Society was an article from 1882 "Mechanics is like a variable organism".

The third work written in Borovsk and presented to the scientific community was the article "Duration of solar emission"(1883), in which Tsiolkovsky described the mechanism of action of the star. He considered the Sun as an ideal gas ball, 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 (law of universal gravitation) and gas dynamics (Boyle-Mariotte law).

The article was reviewed by Professor Ivan Borgman. According to Tsiolkovsky, he liked it, but since its original version contained practically no calculations, it “aroused mistrust.” Nevertheless, it was Borgman who proposed to publish the works presented by the teacher from Borovsk, which, however, was not done.

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

Tsiolkovsky's next work "Free space" 1883 was written in the form of a diary. This is a kind of thought experiment, the narrative is told on behalf of an observer located in free airless space and not experiencing the forces of attraction and resistance. The main result of this work can be considered the principle first formulated by Tsiolkovsky about the only possible method movement in “free space” - jet motion.

One of the main problems that occupied Tsiolkovsky almost from the time he arrived in Borovsk was the theory of balloons. Soon he came to the realization that this was precisely the task that deserved the most attention.

In 1885, he decided to devote himself to aeronautics and theoretically develop a metal controllable balloon.

Tsiolkovsky developed a balloon of his own design, which resulted in a voluminous essay “Theory and experience of a balloon having an elongated shape in the horizontal direction”(1885-1886). It provided scientific and technical justification for the creation of a completely new and original airship design with a thin metal shell. Tsiolkovsky provided drawings common types balloon and some important components of its design.

While working on this manuscript, Tsiolkovsky was visited by P. M. Golubitsky, already a well-known inventor in the field of telephony by that time. He invited Tsiolkovsky to go with him to Moscow and introduce himself to the famous Sofia Kovalevskaya, who had arrived briefly 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."

Having refused a trip 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 talked about his airship. Soon a reply letter arrived with an offer to speak at the Moscow Polytechnic Museum at a meeting of the Physics Department of the Society of Natural History Lovers.

In April 1887, Tsiolkovsky arrived in Moscow and, after a lengthy 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.” I didn’t have to read the report itself, just explain the main points. The listeners reacted favorably to the speaker, there were no fundamental objections, and several simple questions were asked. After completing the report, an offer was made to help Tsiolkovsky settle in Moscow, but real help this was not followed.

On the advice of Stoletov, Konstantin Eduardovich handed over the manuscript of the report to N. E. Zhukovsky.

In 1889, Tsiolkovsky continued work on his airship. Assessing the failure in the Society of Natural History Lovers as a consequence of insufficient elaboration of his first manuscript about the balloon, Tsiolkovsky writes new article “On the possibility of building a metal balloon”(1890) and, together with a paper model of his airship, sends it to D.I. Mendeleev in St. Petersburg. Mendeleev, at the request of Tsiolkovsky, transferred all the materials to the Imperial Russian Technical Society (IRTO).

But Tsiolkovsky was refused.

In 1891, Tsiolkovsky made one last attempt to protect his airship in the eyes of the scientific community. He wrote great job "Controllable metal balloon", in which he took into account Zhukovsky’s comments and wishes, and on October 16 sent it, this time to Moscow, to A.G. Stoletov. There was no result again.

Then Konstantin Eduardovich turned to his friends for help and, using the funds raised, ordered the publication of a book at the Moscow printing house of M. G. Volchaninov. One of the donors was school friend Konstantin Eduardovich, the famous archaeologist A. A. Spitsyn, who was visiting the Tsiolkovskys at that time and conducting research on ancient human sites in the area of ​​​​the St. Pafnutev Borovsky Monastery and at the mouth of the Isterma River. The publication of the book was carried out by Tsiolkovsky’s friend, 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.

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

In Borovsk, the Tsiolkovskys had four children.: eldest daughter Lyubov (1881) and sons Ignatius (1883), Alexander (1885) and Ivan (1888). The Tsiolkovskys lived poorly, but, according to the scientist himself, “they didn’t wear patches and never went hungry.” Konstantin Eduardovich spent most of his salary on books, physical and chemical instruments, tools, and reagents.

On April 23, 1887, on the day of Tsiolkovsky’s return from Moscow, where he gave 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 Tsiolkovskys’ property, were lost, with the exception of a sewing machine, which they managed to throw through the window into the yard. This was the hardest blow for Konstantin Eduardovich; he expressed his thoughts and feelings in the manuscript “Prayer” (May 15, 1887).

On January 27, 1892, the director of public schools, D. S. Unkovsky, turned to the trustee of the Moscow educational district with a request to transfer “one of the most capable and diligent teachers” to the district school of the city of Kaluga. At this time, Tsiolkovsky continued his work on aerodynamics and the theory of vortices in various media, and also awaited the publication of the book “Controllable Metal Balloon” in the Moscow printing house. The decision to transfer was made on February 4.

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

After completing teaching in 1921, Tsiolkovsky was assigned a personal lifetime pension. From that moment until his death, Tsiolkovsky was exclusively engaged 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, and 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 tragic death many of his children: of K. E. Tsiolkovsky’s seven children, five died during his lifetime.

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

In Kaluga, Tsiolkovsky also did not forget about science, astronautics and aeronautics. He built special installation, which made it possible to measure some aerodynamic parameters of aircraft. Since the Physicochemical Society did not allocate a penny for his experiments, the scientist had to use family funds to conduct research.

Tsiolkovsky built more than 100 experimental models at his own expense and tested them. After some time, society finally paid attention to the Kaluga genius and provided him with financial support - 470 rubles, with which Tsiolkovsky built a new, improved installation - a “blower”.

Study of aerodynamic properties of bodies various shapes and possible designs for aerial vehicles gradually led Tsiolkovsky to think about options for flight in airless space and the conquest of space.

His book was published in 1895 "Dreams of Earth and Sky", 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, 1896, Tsiolkovsky began writing his main work, “The Study of World Spaces with Reactive Instruments,” published in 1903. This book touched on the problems of using rockets in space.

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

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

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

On June 5, 1919, the Council of the Russian Society of Lovers of World Studies accepted K. E. Tsiolkovsky as a member and he, as a member of the scientific society, was awarded 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 thereby 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, also committed suicide.

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 he was imprisoned in Lubyanka. There he was interrogated for several weeks. According to some reports, a certain person interceded for Tsiolkovsky 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 social sciences(renamed the Communist Academy in 1924), and on November 9, 1921, the scientist was awarded a lifetime 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, September 13, 1935, K. E. Tsiolkovsky wrote in a letter to: “Before the revolution, my dream could not come true. Only October brought recognition to the works of a self-taught man: only the Soviet government and the Lenin-Stalin party provided me with effective help. I felt the love of the people, and this gave me the strength to continue my work, even while I was sick... I pass on all my works on aviation, rocket navigation and interplanetary communications to the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet government - the true leaders of progress human culture. I am confident that they will successfully complete my work.".

The letter from the outstanding scientist soon received an answer: “To the famous scientist, Comrade K. E. Tsiolkovsky. Please accept my gratitude for a letter full of confidence in the Bolshevik Party and Soviet power. I wish you 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 USSR Academy of Sciences, where a special commission was created to develop the works of K. E. Tsiolkovsky.

The commission distributed the scientist’s scientific works into sections. The first volume contained 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 the issues of watering deserts and cooling human habitations in them, the use of tides and waves and various inventions, in the fourth volume included Tsiolkovsky's works on astronomy, geophysics, biology, the structure of matter and other problems, and finally, the fifth volume is biographical materials and correspondence of the scientist.

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

Works of Tsiolkovsky:

1883 - “Free space. (systematic presentation of scientific ideas)"
1902-1904 - “Ethics, or the natural foundations of morality”
1903 - “Exploration of world spaces using jet instruments”
1911 - “Exploration of world spaces using jet instruments”
1914 - “Exploration of world spaces using jet instruments (Addition)”
1924 - “Spaceship”
1926 - “Exploration of world spaces using jet instruments”
1925 - Monism of the Universe
1926 - “Friction and Air Resistance”
1927 - “Space rocket. Experienced training"
1927 - “The universal human alphabet, spelling and language”
1928 - “Proceedings on the space rocket 1903-1907.”
1929 - “Space Rocket Trains”
1929 - “Jet Engine”
1929 - “Star Voyage Goals”
1930 - “To Starfarers”
1931 - “The Origin of Music and Its Essence”
1932 - “Jet Propulsion”
1932-1933 - “Fuel for the rocket”
1933 - “A starship with its predecessor machines”
1933 - “Shells acquiring escape velocity on land or water"
1935 - “The highest speed of a rocket.”

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky is an outstanding Russian scientist, inventor, natural scientist, and philosopher. In 1883, he wrote the book “Free Space,” in which he described the processes occurring in space and its properties. It was in this book that Konstantin Eduardovich first proposed the rocket principle of movement in airless space. Was the space surrounding Konstantin Eduardovich himself free for creativity and scientific research? Unfortunately no. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was born in 1857, and at the age of 9 he almost completely lost his hearing after suffering from scarlet fever. When he entered the Vyatka gymnasium, problems arose with his studies - the gymnasium student Tsiolkovsky could not meet the requirements educational institution, fully assimilate the material, pass exams. The children bullied their talented classmate in every possible way, subjecting them to sophisticated bullying and ridicule. Konstantin Eduardovich later called this period “the saddest, darkest time of my life.”

Konstantin was expelled from the gymnasium in his third year of study. From that time on, mistrust and bitterness settled in his soul. But his natural curiosity and passion for the natural sciences did not allow him to give up. Konstantin began self-education, studied textbooks and monographs, conducted physical and chemical experiments at home. He had golden hands, and even in early childhood he made toys, watches, and skates himself. When there was a need for experimental studies, he managed to make a lathe and an astrolabe. Showing remarkable design talent, Konstantin built various self-propelled mechanisms, the springs for which he extracted from old ladies' crinolines.

For three years, first in Vyatka, then at the Chertkovsky Public Library in Moscow, he mastered not only the gymnasium program, but a significant part of the university one. Circumstances forced him to look for a means of livelihood, and Konstantin Eduardovich took up tutoring, and later teaching. This fact causes natural surprise: how did a person who was practically deaf manage to succeed in teaching? The fact is that Tsiolkovsky widely used visual methods - he conducted experiments with his students, made models of geometric figures and various aircraft.

However, the free space around the scientist continued to shrink. A fire and two floods destroyed the instruments, apparatus, scientific notes, and calculations he created. Konstantin Eduardovich, unable to communicate with other researchers and not being aware of the scientific work being carried out in the world, was doomed to “reinvent the wheel.” Many of his discoveries have already been made by other scientists.

The articles sent by Tsiolkovsky to scientific publications were not published, the works were not published. Konstantin Eduardovich stopped hoping for recognition, but, nevertheless, continued his scientific activities. He studied biomechanics, the theory of aeronautics, and even eugenics. He was ignored as a scientist, but appreciated as a teacher. In 1892, Tsiolkovsky was transferred to Kaluga as a teacher at a district school.

The beginning of the 20th century was especially difficult for the scientist: the death of his sons, lack of support from the scientific community, poverty, arrest. Nevertheless, Konstantin Eduardovich did not give up his research activities, wrote books, and improved a model of a balloon with a metal shell. He spent all his money on purchasing materials. But his most important works were devoted to astronautics and the theory of rocket propulsion.

Only after 1923 did the space surrounding the great scientist become more or less free. The Soviet authorities became interested in his work, publications and followers appeared. Many of Tsiolkovsky's ideas formed the basis of modern theories of space flight.

The famous Soviet writer A. Belyaev wrote a science fiction novel about a space station called “KETS Star”. Have you already guessed what this abbreviation means? Absolutely right. These are the initial letters of the name Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky!

The biography of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky began in the village of Izhevskoye near the city of Ryazan. The father, Eduard Ignatievich, worked as a local forester, and his wife Maria Ivanovna was involved 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. That same year, the older brother in their family, Dmitry, also died. The next year Maria Ivanovna also died.

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. All later life he will study at home by reading books.

Path to knowledge

At the age of 16, Tsiolkovsky moved to Moscow. He independently comprehends chemistry, mechanics, astronomy, mathematics and visits the Chertkovsky 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 buying books. When his 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 operation of mechanisms on clear examples. He made mechanisms for children himself. 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 after passing all the necessary exams. Tsiolkovsky’s short biography contains such sad pages: the fire of 1887 and the flooding of his house by the river during the spring flood. Then the most were lost important works scientist - modules, drawings, models and other property.

The scientist devoted a large amount of his 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 science related to space and earn a living by teaching arithmetic and geometry. For his experiments, he built a special tunnel where he studied jet propulsion.
Tsiolkovsky, while living in Kaluga, compiled an invaluable work on space biology. He believed that astronautics was the future and worked fruitfully in this direction.

His savings were not always enough to conduct new experiments, and Tsiolkovsky asked for financial support from the Physicochemical Society, which refused, not seeing the point in his research. Only when practical experiments began to produce visible results, he was allocated 470 rubles.

In 1895, he wrote the work “Dreams of Earth and Sky”, and a year later - “Exploration of outer space using a jet engine”. In his works, 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. They remembered him after G. Oberth began to present similar scientific research in Germany. The leadership of the USSR highly appreciated the scientist's scientific achievements and provided Tsiolkovsky with optimal conditions for productive work and awarded him a lifelong pension.

Tsiolkovsky died in Kaluga in 1935. The cause of death was stomach cancer.

> > Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

Biography of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935)

Short biography:

Place of Birth: Izhevskoe,
Ryazan province,
Russian empire

A place of death: Kaluga, RSFSR, USSR

– Soviet scientist and inventor: biography with photos, contribution to science and culture, the first model of a rocket, aerodynamic experiments.

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

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

After the lapse of four years he lost his mother. These two tragedies were destined to play a decisive role in shaping the life scenario of 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 had to three years study chemistry, mathematics, astronomy and mechanics.

Communication with others was carried out using a special hearing aid. But the cost of Moscow life was quite high and Tsiolkovsky, despite all his efforts, was unable to obtain sufficient funds, and in 1876, at the insistence of his father, he found himself in Vyatka. After passing the exams and receiving a teaching diploma, he began teaching. The Borovsk school, where he worked, was located a hundred kilometers from Belokamennaya. In Borovsk he had the chance to get married; Varvara Efgrafovna Sokolova became his wife.

Russian scientific centers were far away, deafness did not leave, but this did not stop Tsiolkovsky from engaging in independent aerodynamic research. First, he developed the kinetic theory of gases. In response to his message with calculations to the Russian Physicochemical Society, Mendeleev said that this theory had already been discovered a quarter of a century ago. Tsiolkovsky managed to survive this blow and not stop researching. Petersburg drew attention to the gifted and extraordinary Vyatka teacher, he received an offer of membership in the above-mentioned 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 parameters that characterize aircrafts. The Physicochemical Society did not allocate any funds for the experiments; the scientist continued his research using family savings. Tsiolkovsky's money went towards experimental models (over 100) and their testing. When the society finally allocated financial support to the Kaluga genius in the amount of 470 rubles, Tsiolkovsky carried out the construction of a new, improved tunnel.

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

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

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