What city did Tsiolkovsky live in? Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky - biography, information, personal life

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

Tsiolkovsky substantiated the use of rockets for flights into space, came to the conclusion that it was necessary to use " rocket trains» - prototypes of multi-stage rockets. Main scientific works belong to aeronautics, rocket dynamics and astronautics.

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

Tsiolkovsky proposed to populate outer space using orbital stations, put forward the idea of ​​a space elevator, hovercraft. He believed that the development of life on one of the planets of the Universe would reach such power and perfection that it 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 Tsiolkovsky (Polish Ciołkowski) of the Yastrzhembets coat of arms. The first mention of the belonging of the Tsiolkovskys to the nobility dates back to 1697.

According to family tradition, 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 Commonwealth in 1594-1596.

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

However, modern research does not confirm this legend. The genealogy of the Tsiolkovskys has been 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 impressed Konstantin Eduardovich himself - in fact, it is known only from himself (from autobiographical notes). In addition, in the copy owned by the scientist encyclopedic dictionary Brockhaus and Efron, the article "Nalivaiko" is marked 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 clan was a certain Maciej (Polish Maciey, in modern Polish spelling Maciej), who had three sons: Stanislav, Yakov (Jakub, Polish Jakub) and Valerian, who became owners of the villages of Velikoye Tselkovo after the death of their father, Small Tselkovo and Snegovo. The surviving record says that the landowners of the Plotsk province, the Tsiolkovsky brothers, took part in the election of the Polish king Augustus the Strong in 1697. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is a descendant of Yakov.

By the end of the 18th century, the Tsiolkovsky family was greatly impoverished. In the context of a deep crisis and the collapse of the Commonwealth, the Polish nobility also experienced hard times.

In 1777, 5 years after the first partition of Poland, the great-grandfather of K. E. Tsiolkovsky Tomash (Foma) sold the Velikoye Tselkovo estate and moved to the Berdichevsky district of the Kyiv province in Right-Bank Ukraine, and then to the Zhytomyr district of the Volyn province. Many subsequent representatives of the family held small positions in the judiciary. Lacking any significant privileges from their nobility, they for a long time forgot about him and about his coat of arms.

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

Constantine's father Eduard Ignatievich Tsiolkovsky (1820-1881, full name- Makar-Eduard-Erasmus, Makary Edward Erazm). Born in the village of Korostyanin (now Malinovka, Goshchansky district, Rivne region in northwestern Ukraine). In 1841 he graduated from the Forest and Survey Institute in St. Petersburg, then served as a forester in the Olonetsk and St. Petersburg provinces. In 1843 he was transferred to the Pronskoye forestry of the Spassky district of the Ryazan province. Living in the village of Izhevsk, met with his future wife Maria Ivanovna Yumasheva(1832-1870), mother of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Having Tatar roots, she was brought up in the Russian tradition. The ancestors of Maria Ivanovna under Ivan the Terrible moved to the Pskov province. Her parents, small landed nobles, also owned a cooperage and basket 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 in the 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, sledding at the beginning of winter, caught a cold and fell ill with scarlet fever. As a result of a complication after a serious illness, he partially lost his hearing. Then came what later Konstantin Eduardovich called "the saddest, darkest time of my life." Hearing loss deprived the boy of many childhood amusements and impressions familiar to his healthy peers. At this time, Kostya for the first time begins to show interest in craftsmanship. “I liked to make puppet skates, houses, sleds, clocks with weights, etc. All this was made of paper and cardboard and connected with sealing wax”, he will write later.

In 1868, the land 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 two brothers lived with the father of the family, who, probably, helped him get the post of head of the Forest Department.

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

In 1869, Kostya, together with his younger brother Ignatius, entered the first class of the male Vyatka gymnasium. The study was given with great difficulty, there were many subjects, the teachers were strict. Deafness was very disturbing: “I didn’t hear the teacher at all or heard only obscure sounds”.

In a letter dated 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, the resulting ignorance of life and people, and other unfavorable conditions, I hope, 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 College, died. This death shocked the whole family, but especially Maria Ivanovna. In 1870, Kostya's mother, whom he dearly loved, died unexpectedly.

Grief crushed the orphaned boy. Even without that he did not shine with success in his studies, oppressed by the misfortunes that fell on him, Kostya studied worse and worse. Much more acutely did he feel his deafness, which prevented him from studying at school and made him more and more isolated. For pranks, he was repeatedly punished, ended up in a punishment cell.

In the second grade, Kostya remained for the second year, and from the third (in 1873) an expulsion followed with a characterization "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 science and mathematics). Unlike gymnasium teachers, books generously endowed him with knowledge and never made the slightest reproach.

At the same time, Kostya joined the technical and scientific creativity. He independently made an astrolabe (the first distance measured by her was to the fire tower), a home lathe, self-propelled carriages and locomotives. The devices were driven by coil springs, which Konstantin extracted from old crinolines bought on the market.

He was fond of 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, thinks about the project of 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 his friend with a request to help get settled. However, Konstantin lost the letter and remembered only the address: Nemetskaya Street (now Baumanskaya Street). Having reached her, 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 (his father sent 10-15 rubles a month), he began to work hard. “Apart from water and black bread, I then had nothing. Every three days I went to the bakery and bought 9 kopecks worth of bread there. Thus, I lived 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 the Chertkovo 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 did not recognize the famous thinker in a modest employee. “He gave me forbidden books. Then it turned out that he was a well-known ascetic, a friend of Tolstoy and an amazing philosopher and modest. He distributed all his tiny salary to the poor. Now I see that he also wanted to make me his boarder, but he did not succeed: I was too shy., - Konstantin Eduardovich later wrote in his autobiography.

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

Work in the library was subject to a clear schedule. In the morning, Konstantin was engaged in precise and natural sciences requiring concentration and clarity of mind. Then he switched to simpler material: fiction and journalism. Actively studied "thick" journals, where they were published as reviews science articles and publicistic ones. He enthusiastically read Shakespeare, Turgenev, admired the articles of Dmitry Pisarev: “Pisarev made me tremble with joy and happiness. In him I saw then my second "I"".

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

For three years, Konstantin fully mastered the gymnasium program, as well as a significant part of the university one.

Unfortunately, his father was no longer able to pay for his accommodation in Moscow, and besides, he felt unwell and was going 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 autumn of 1876, Eduard Ignatievich called his son back to Vyatka, and Konstantin returned home.

Konstantin returned to Vyatka weakened, emaciated and emaciated. Difficult living conditions in Moscow, hard work also led to a deterioration in vision. After returning home, Tsiolkovsky began to wear glasses. Having regained his strength, Konstantin began to give private lessons in physics and mathematics. I learned my first lesson through my father's connections in a liberal society. Having shown himself to be a talented teacher, in the future he had no shortage of students.

At the end of 1876, Konstantin's younger brother Ignatius died. The brothers were very close from childhood, Konstantin trusted Ignatius with his innermost thoughts, and the death of his brother was a heavy blow.

By 1877, Eduard Ignatievich was already very weak and ill, the tragic death of his wife and children affected (except for the sons of Dmitry and Ignatius in these years, the Tsiolkovskys lost the most youngest daughter- Catherine - she died in 1875, during the absence of Konstantin), 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 underwent a medical examination and was released from military service due to deafness. The family intended to buy a house and live on the income from it, but the unforeseen 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 subsistence, since his personal savings accumulated from private lessons in Vyatka were coming to an end, and in Ryazan an unknown tutor could not find students without recommendations.

To continue working as a teacher, a certain, documented qualification was required. In the autumn of 1879, at the First Provincial Gymnasium, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky took an external exam for a county mathematics teacher. As a "self-taught", he had to take a "full" exam - not only the subject itself, but also grammar, catechism, worship and other compulsory disciplines. Tsiolkovsky was never interested in these subjects and did not study them, but he managed to prepare himself in a short time.

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

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, the first publications were published.

Upon arrival, Tsiolkovsky stayed in hotel rooms on the central square of the city. After long search more comfortable housing Tsiolkovsky - on the recommendation of the inhabitants of Borovsk - "got on the bread to one widower with his daughter, who lived on the outskirts of the city" - to E. E. Sokolov - a widower, a priest of the Edinoverie 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 diligence 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, the father of K. E. Tsiolkovsky died in Ryazan.

In the Borovsky district school, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky continued to improve as a teacher: he taught arithmetic and geometry outside the box, came up with exciting problems and set amazing experiments, especially for Borovsky boys. Several times he launched with his students a huge paper balloon with a “gondola”, in which there were burning torches, to heat the air. Sometimes Tsiolkovsky had to replace other teachers and teach drawing, drawing, history, geography, and once even replace the superintendent of the school.

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

The very first work of Tsiolkovsky was devoted to the application of mechanics in biology. She became an article written in 1880 « Graphic image sensations". In this work, Tsiolkovsky developed the pessimistic theory of “agitated zero” characteristic of him at that time, mathematically substantiated the idea of ​​the meaninglessness of human life (this theory, according to the scientist’s later admission, was destined to play a fatal role in his life and in the life of his family). Tsiolkovsky sent this article to the Russian Thought magazine, 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"(manuscript not found). Once he was visited by a student Vasily Lavrov, who offered his help, as he was heading to St. following works by Tsiolkovsky). The Theory of Gases was written by Tsiolkovsky on the basis of the books he had. Tsiolkovsky independently developed the foundations of the kinetic theory of gases.

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

The second scientific work submitted to RFHO was the article of 1882 "Mechanics is like a changing organism".

The third work written in Borovsk and presented to the scientific community was the article "Duration of the Sun's Radiation"(1883), in which Tsiolkovsky described the mechanism of action of a star. He considered the Sun as an ideal gaseous sphere, 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 (the law gravity) and gas dynamics (Boyle-Mariotte law).

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

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

Next work Tsiolkovsky "Free space" 1883 was written in the form of a diary. This is a kind of mental experiment, the narration is conducted on behalf of an observer who is in a free airless space and does not experience the action of 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 of movement in "free space" - jet propulsion.

One of the main problems that occupied Tsiolkovsky almost from the time of his arrival in Borovsk was the theory of balloons. Soon, he realized that this was the task that should be given the most attention.

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

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

While working on this manuscript, P. M. Golubitsky, already a well-known inventor in the field of telephony, visited Tsiolkovsky. He invited Tsiolkovsky to go with him to Moscow, to introduce himself to the famous Sofya Kovalevskaya, who had come for a short time 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."

Refusing to go 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 spoke about his airship. Soon a response letter arrived with a proposal to speak at the Moscow Polytechnic Museum at a meeting of the Physics Department of the Society of Natural Science Lovers.

In April 1887, Tsiolkovsky arrived in Moscow and after a long 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." It was not necessary to read the report itself, only to explain the main provisions. The audience reacted favorably to the speaker, there were no fundamental objections, and several simple questions were asked. After the report was completed, an offer was made to help Tsiolkovsky settle in Moscow, but no real help was forthcoming.

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

In 1889, Tsiolkovsky continued to work on his airship. Considering the failure in the Society of Natural Science Lovers as a consequence of the insufficient study of his first manuscript on the balloon, Tsiolkovsky writes a new article "On the possibility of building a metal balloon"(1890) and, together with a paper model of his airship, sent it to D. I. Mendeleev in St. Petersburg. Mendeleev, at the request of Tsiolkovsky, transferred all the materials to the Imperial Russian Technical Society (IRTS).

But Tsiolkovsky was refused.

In 1891, Tsiolkovsky made another, last, attempt to protect his airship in the eyes of the scientific community. He wrote a great work "Metal controlled balloon", in which he took into account the comments and wishes of Zhukovsky, and on October 16 sent it, this time to Moscow, to A. G. Stoletov. Again there was no result.

Then Konstantin Eduardovich turned to his friends for help and ordered the publication of the book in the Moscow printing house of M. G. Volchaninov with the funds raised. One of the donors was school friend Konstantin Eduardovich, the famous archaeologist A. A. Spitsyn, who at that time was visiting the Tsiolkovskys and conducting research on ancient human sites in the area of ​​St. Pafnutiev Borovsky Monastery and at the mouth of the Isterma River. The book was published by a friend of Tsiolkovsky, a 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 largely continues the traditions of "Free Space", but is clothed in a more artistic form, has a complete, albeit very conditional, plot. Two nameless heroes - the author and his friend, a physicist - unexpectedly end up on the moon. The main and only task of the work is to describe the impressions of the observer who is on its surface. Tsiolkovsky's story is notable for its persuasiveness, the presence of numerous details, and rich literary language.

The Tsiolkovskys had four children in Borovsk: eldest daughter Love (1881) and sons Ignatius (1883), Alexander (1885) and Ivan (1888). The Tsiolkovskys lived in poverty, but, according to the scientist himself, "they did not go in patches and never went hungry." Konstantin Eduardovich spent most of his salary on books, physical and chemical devices, tools, and reagents.

On April 23, 1887, on the day Tsiolkovsky returned from Moscow, where he made 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 property of the Tsiolkovskys were lost, with the exception of sewing machine, which managed to be thrown through the window into the courtyard. It was a hard 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 expected the publication of the book "Metal controlled balloon" in a Moscow printing house. The decision to transfer was made on February 4th.

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

After completing his teaching, in 1921, Tsiolkovsky was granted a personal lifetime pension. From that moment until his death, Tsiolkovsky was engaged exclusively 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, articles were written about his vision ideal society 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 the seven children of K. E. Tsiolkovsky, five died during his lifetime.

In Kaluga, Tsiolkovsky met the 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, about astronautics and aeronautics. He built a special installation, which made it possible to measure some of the aerodynamic parameters of aircraft. Since the Physico-Chemical 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, the society nevertheless drew attention to the Kaluga genius and allocated him financial support - 470 rubles, for which Tsiolkovsky built a new, improved installation - the “blower”.

The study of the aerodynamic properties of bodies various shapes and possible schemes of airborne vehicles gradually led Tsiolkovsky to think about options for flight in vacuum and the conquest of space.

In 1895 his book was published "Dreams of Earth and Sky", and a year later an article about other worlds was published, sentient beings from other planets and about the communication of earthlings with them. In the same year, 1896, Tsiolkovsky began to write his main work, "The Study of World Spaces with Reactive Devices", published in 1903. This book touched upon the problems of using rockets in space.

In 1896-1898, the scientist took part in the newspaper "Kaluga Vestnik", which published both the materials of 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 flood of the Oka, his house was flooded, many cars, 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 granted 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 thus 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, took his own life.

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 they put him in a prison on Lubyanka. There he was interrogated for several weeks. According to some reports, a certain high-ranking person interceded for Tsiolkovsky, as a result of which the scientist was released.

In 1918, Tsiolkovsky was elected to the number of competing members of the Socialist Academy of Social Sciences (in 1924 it was renamed the Communist Academy), and on November 9, 1921, the scientist was awarded a life 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, on 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 the self-taught: only the Soviet government and the party of Lenin-Stalin provided me with effective assistance. I felt the love of the masses of the people, and this gave me the strength to continue my work, already being sick ... I transfer all my work on aviation, rocket navigation and interplanetary communications to the Bolshevik parties and the Soviet government - the true leaders of the progress of human culture. I am sure that they will successfully complete my work..

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

The commission distributed the scientific works of the scientist into sections. The first volume concluded 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 watering deserts and cooling human dwellings in them, using tides and waves and various inventions, 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, the Orthodox priest Alexander Men performed a funeral ceremony over the grave of Tsiolkovsky.

Works by Tsiolkovsky:

1883 - “Free space. (systematic presentation of scientific ideas)"
1902-1904 - "Ethics, or the natural foundations of morality"
1903 - "Research of world spaces with jet devices"
1911 - "Research of world spaces with jet devices"
1914 - "Research of world spaces with jet devices (Supplement)"
1924 - "Spaceship"
1926 - "Research of world spaces with jet devices"
1925 - Monism of the Universe
1926 - "Friction and air resistance"
1927 - “Space rocket. Experienced Training"
1927 - "Universal alphabet, spelling and language"
1928 - "Works on space rocket 1903-1907"
1929 - "Space Rocket Trains"
1929 - "Jet engine"
1929 - "Aims of Astronomy"
1930 - "Stargazers"
1931 - "The origin of music and its essence"
1932 - "Jet Propulsion"
1932-1933 - "Rocket Fuel"
1933 - "Starship with its predecessor machines"
1933 - "Projectiles that acquire cosmic speeds on land or water"
1935 - " Top speed missiles."

MAIN DATES OF THE LIFE AND CREATIVITY OF K. E. TSIOLKOVSKY

1857, 17 (5) September- In the village of Izhevsk, Ryazan province, the son Konstantin was born in the family of the county forester Eduard Ignatievich Tsiolkovsky and his wife Maria Ivanovna (nee Yumasheva).

1858 summer- The Tsiolkovsky family moves to Ryazan.

1867 winter- Konstantin loses his hearing after suffering from scarlet fever.

1868, autumn- The Tsiolkovsky family moves to Vyatka (now the city of Kirov).

1869, autumn- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky enters the Vyatka Men's Gymnasium.

1870, autumn- Death of mother.

1873, summer - 1876, October- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky lives in Moscow and is engaged in self-education. Acquaintance with the philosopher-cosmist N. F. Fedorov.

1876, end of October- Return to Vyatka.

1878 summer- Tsiolkovsky's father retires, and the family moves to Ryazan.

1879 September- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky externally takes exams for the title of teacher of county schools; in October received a certificate giving the right to teach.

1880, January- Received an appointment in the city of Borovsk, Kaluga province, began teaching arithmetic and geometry at the Borovsk district school.

1880, August 20- Wedding with Varvara Evgrafovna Sokolova (November 5, 1857 - August 20, 1940).

1880–1883 - The first scientific works were written: "Theory of gases", "Duration of radiation from the Sun", "Free space", "Mechanics like a changing organism".

1887, spring- Speech at a meeting of the Society of Natural History Lovers in the Great Hall of the Polytechnic Museum with a report on a metal controlled balloon. Acquaintance with Professor A. G. Stoletov, who provided the young scientist with important moral support.

1887 April- Fire in the house where Tsiolkovsky lived; the family loses all acquired property, the scientist - libraries, instruments and laboratory equipment.

1890 October- The VII (aeronautical) department of the Russian Technical Society at its meeting gave a negative assessment to the project of a metal balloon (airship), presented by Tsiolkovsky, and rejected the scientist's request for funds to build an experimental model.

1891 second half- The first works of Tsiolkovsky - "The pressure of a liquid on a plane moving uniformly in it", "How to protect fragile and delicate things from pushes and blows" - were published in the Proceedings of the Physical Sciences Department of the Society of Natural Science Lovers.

1892 February- Tsiolkovsky and his family moved to Kaluga. Beginning of teaching at the Kaluga district school.

1892, spring- Publication of the scientist's first book - "Metal controlled balloon".

1893–1894 - Publication of works: “Metal controlled balloon” (2nd part), “Gravity as the main source of world energy”, science fiction story “On the Moon”, “Is a metal balloon possible?”, “Airplane, or Bird-like ( aviation) flying machine.

1895, spring- The book "Dreams of Earth and Sky" was published.

1896 -Beginning of work in the field of rocket dynamics. The first drafts of the article "Research of world spaces by jet devices". Continuation of the design of a metal airship.

1897, autumn- At his own expense, he built the world's first wind tunnel and began experiments to study air resistance. He turned to the physical department of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society with a message about the discovery and a request for financial support. I received an answer about the futility of the project and a refusal to provide financial assistance.

1897 - The journal "Scientific Review" (No. 7) published an article "Duration of solar radiation. Pressure inside the stars (Sun) and their compression due to the elasticity of matter. The beginning of creative cooperation with the publisher of the magazine, the writer-educator and philosopher M. M. Filippov.

1898 December- Writes a treatise Scientific Foundations religion”, which marked the beginning of an extensive cycle of subsequent God-seeking works.

1899 February- Starts teaching physics at the Kaluga Diocesan Women's School, combining this with work at the Kaluga District School.

1900 January - Russian Academy Sciences makes a decision on the allocation of financial assistance in the amount of 470 rubles for the continuation of experiments in aerodynamics.

1900, August- Dismissed from service in the Kaluga district school due to completely unhealthy health. From now on teaching activity Tsiolkovsky is connected with the diocesan school - up to the liquidation of the latter by decision of the Soviet authorities.

1900 - The journal "Scientific Review" (No. 12) publishes a review article by Tsiolkovsky "Successes in aeronautics of the 19th century."

1901 December- Preparation of a report on experiments on air resistance made using a wind tunnel. The report, later sent to the Academy of Sciences, was not properly evaluated and was not published.

1902 April - July- Prepares for publication the article "Research of world spaces by reactive devices" (in two parts).

1903 January- Beginning of work on the philosophical work "Ethics, or the Natural Foundations of Morality".

1903 May- The journal "Scientific Review" (No. 5) publishes the first part of Tsiolkovsky's article "Research of world spaces with jet devices".

1904 May- Purchase of his own house in Kaluga (now - the Memorial House-Museum of K. E. Tsiolkovsky).

1909–1911 - Obtaining patents for their inventions related to the method of joining metal sheets in order to construct a variable volume airship shell - in Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Great Britain, France, Russia, Austria and the USA.

1911, end - 1912, beginning- The journal "Bulletin of Aeronautics" (editor - B. N. Vorobyov) in seven issues publishes the second part (and a summary of the first part) of the article "Research of world spaces with jet instruments".

1914, April 8-13- Participation in the III All-Russian Aeronautical Congress, held in St. Petersburg. Speech with a report on a metal airship (a report due to Tsiolkovsky's illness and at his request was read by P. P. Canning).

1914 April- Acquaintance with a 17-year-old student of the Kaluga real school Alexander Chizhevsky.

1915 January- Appeals to the Main Department of Agriculture and Land Management with a request to take ownership of a plot of state land in the Black Sea province.

1914–1916 -Among others, the following works have been written and published: "Nirvana", "The Second Law of Thermodynamics", additions to the first and second parts of "Research of world spaces with reactive devices", "Formation of the Earth and solar systems”, “Common alphabet and language”, “Knowledge and its dissemination”, “Woe and genius”.

1917–1918 -Work on philosophical and sociological treatises "Ideal order of life", "Human properties", "Science and faith", "Adventures of the atom".

1917 December- He speaks at the newly created People's University with a series of lectures on philosophy and the "social structure of mankind."

1918 - The magazine "Nature and People" in # 2-14 publishes a science fiction story "Out of the Earth".

1918, July 1- Dismissed from the Kaluga Diocesan Women's School in connection with the liquidation of the latter.

1918, August 25- Elected to the competing members of the Socialist Academy of Social Sciences.

1918 November 1- Accepted as a teacher of the 6th Kaluga Unified Labor Soviet School.

1918- The work "Genius among people" was published.

1919 February- Addresses the command of the Southern Front and the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs with a proposal to build an airship for the needs of the Red Army.

1919, May 30- A commission consisting of professors Zhukovsky, Vetchinkin and others gives a negative opinion on the feasibility of building a metal airship designed by Tsiolkovsky.

1919 summer- Written autobiographical notes "Fatum, fate, fate."

November 17, 1919- Arrested by the Extraordinary Commission and escorted to Moscow to the Lubyanka remand prison.

1920, autumn- Makes an attempt to move to a permanent place of residence in Kyiv.

1920 October 25- The Kaluga Provincial Economic Council informed Kyiv about the impossibility of moving Tsiolkovsky for health reasons.

1920 - Release of a separate edition of the science fiction story "Out of the Earth" (the magazine publication of 1916 was not completed).

1921 June 20- Employed in the technical bureau of the Kaluga Gubernia Council of National Economy as a design engineer.

1921, August 1- Transferred to the position of consultant on technical issues of the Kaluga Gubernia Council of National Economy.

1921 November 9- The Small Council of People's Commissars, with the participation of V. I. Lenin, adopted a resolution: “In view of the special merits of the scientific inventor of the aviation specialist K. E. Tsiolkovsky in the field of scientific development of aviation issues, assign him a lifetime pension in the amount of 500,000 rubles. per month".

1923, August 23- Delivers a lecture in Moscow to students of the Air Force Academy.

1923, November-December- Publication of the brochure "Rocket into Outer Space" with a preface by A. L. Chizhevsky, in which the priority of K. E. Tsiolkovsky in the field of rocket technology is defended.

1924 -Publication of the brochure "The Story of My Corrugated Metal Airship".

1924 April- Publishes in the regional newspaper "Commune" a review of the book by A. L. Chizhevsky "Physical factors of the historical process."

1925 May 3- Participates in a debate at the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow on the topic "Metal airship Tsiolkovsky and how to build it.

1925–1935 - Daily work on the theoretical and cost estimate, consulting and modeling of a metal airship of its own design; stubborn struggle to bring ideas to life.

1926 - No. 14 of the Ogonyok magazine publishes an article by Tsiolkovsky “The History of My Airship” with a portrait of the author.

1927 - The brochure "Universal alphabet, spelling and language" was published.

1928 - The Ogonyok magazine (No. 14) publishes the autobiography of K. E. Tsiolkovsky, written by A. L. Chizhevsky and timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the founder of astronautics.

1928 - Brochures are published in Kaluga: “The Will of the Universe” (with the essay “Unknown Reasonable Forces”, “Love for Oneself, or True Selfishness”, “Mind and Passions”).

1929 autumn(presumably) - Tsiolkovsky in Kaluga is visited by S.P. Korolev, the future designer of Soviet rocket and space systems, with the help of which the first launch was carried out artificial satellite Earth and the first manned space flight.

1930 - Publication of the work "Scientific Ethics".

1932 September- Tsiolkovsky is honored all over the country on the occasion of his 75th birthday.

1932, summer - autumn- Advising on the film "Space Flight" and work on the "Album of Space Travel".

1933 May 2- Writes a letter of appeal to "My friends" and begins to send out unpublished philosophical notes.

1934 - Two volumes of "Selected Works of K. E. Tsiolkovsky" were published: Book. 1. "All-metal airship"; Book. 2. "Jet propulsion".

1935, September 21- He was buried in the Country Garden (since 1936 renamed the Park named after K. E. Tsiolkovsky).