The brilliant scientist and brave dreamer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is recognized by the world community as the founder and theorist of cosmonautics. Without his writings, the creation of powerful rockets and stations in near-earth orbit would be unrealistic. In the works of Tsiolkovsky (there are about 400 of them), you can find thoughts and ideas that were ahead of time. And some of them, for example, the idea of an elevator to space, are still awaiting implementation.
Childhood and a trip to Moscow
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was born in the fall of 1857 in the village of Izhevskoye, a hundred kilometers from Ryazan, in the family of a forester. However, after a certain time the Tsiolkovskys moved to Vyatka - present-day Kirov.
At the age of nine, little Kostya contracted scarlet fever. Then complications arose and as a result, the boy almost completely lost his hearing. This did not allow him to finish high school. Incredible, but true: in 1873, the future scientist was expelled for academic failure. Then Tsiolkovsky studied only himself, without mentors or assistants.
After being expelled, Konstantin went to Moscow, where every day he went to the Chertkovskaya library to read literature on various disciplines - astronomy, algebra, physics, mechanics … At this time he had a chance to personally meet Nikolai Fedorov - an original thinker who is rightly considered one of the ideologists "Russian cosmism". Communication with Fedorov undoubtedly influenced the young Konstantin Eduardovich. He spent several years in Moscow, but still had to return due to lack of money back to his parents.
Life in Vyatka and Borovsk
In Vyatka, Tsiolkovsky began to work as an ordinary teacher and tutor. And he did it brilliantly: in order to surprise the children and make the lessons interesting, he resorted to visual examples - he himself made models of figures for geometry lessons, and in chemistry classes he carried out memorable experiments. As a result, he gained the reputation of a teacher who can explain even boring and complex topics in an accessible way.
In 1880 Tsiolkovsky moved to the quiet patriarchal Borovsk. In this town he lived and was engaged in teaching for twelve years, immediately his first strictly scientific works were written. On top of that, in Borovsk, Konstantin Eduardovich was waiting for a change in his personal life. He started a family - he married Varvara Sokolova, the daughter of the owner of the house, where at one time he rented a corner. From Tsiolkovsky Varvara gave birth to four children - three sons and a daughter.
Moving and accommodation in Kaluga
In 1892, Tsiolkovsky with his beloved wife and children moved to Kaluga, where he continued to earn a living as a teacher, and conduct scientific work at his leisure. In 1895, one of the publishing houses published an essay by Tsiolkovsky under the title "Dreams of the Earth and the Sky", where he stated in simple language his point of view on many issues related to human space exploration. But only eight years later, in 1903, Tsiolkovsky will create the main work in his biography - "Exploration of world spaces with jet devices."
It is also known that Tsiolkovsky in Kaluga, right at his house, made a tunnel where he set up experiments on jet propulsion. When innovative experiments began to give testable results, the Academy of Sciences even allocated funds to the self-taught scientist - about 500 rubles.
Years after the revolution and death
The communists, having come to power in Russia, treated Tsiolkovsky with tremendous respect. They provided the gifted self-taught person with excellent working conditions. And since 1921, a substantial pension began to be paid to the scientist. That is, Tsiolkovsky got the opportunity to engage only in scientific research and popularize his ideas, without being distracted by anything else. In 1932, the achievements of Konstantin Eduardovich (at that time he was considered a fairly famous and respected scientist) were awarded an honorary award - the Order of the Banner of Labor.
The life of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky came to an end just three years later, in 1935, in the same provincial Kaluga. The official cause of death is a malignant tumor in the stomach.
