Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich.

An offprint from the journal Vestnik opytnoi fiziki i elementarnoi matematiki, this paper resulted from Tsiolkovsky's experiments using a wind tunnel. He was the first Russian scientist to use a wind tunnel for aviation, which he had constructed in 1897. It is one of his earliest publications.

Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) was a deaf autodidact who carried out extensive research in aviation and astronautics, including plans for constructing rockets and the possibility of interplanetary travel. He was a teacher in Kaluga (a town about 100 miles southwest of Moscow) from 1892 onwards where he carried out his research at his own expense. In 1918 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences in Moscow and from 1921 onwards he was able to give up teaching because of funding received from the Academy.

"Tsiolkovsky's scientific legacy is tremendous both in context and significance... Alongside his basic studies on rocket dynamics and the problem of conquest of the air, we find Tsiolkovsky elaborating problems of a geophysical and astronomical character; he investigated purely physical problems, such as the properties of matter, energy and the structure of the atom. A number of his papers are devoted to power engineering. He also worked on problems of geology, geochemistry, and biology; he was extremely interested in the origin of life and evidence of it elsewhere in the universe. He likewise touched on problems of philosophy" (Tsiolkovsky, Selected works, edited by A.A. Blagonravov, Moscow 1968, pp.6-7).