Unit 16

Grammar: Gerund; Gerund clauses

Text 16 a k. E. Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935)

"Mankind will not remain on earth forever." These words, an axiom of the new science of astronautics, were spoken at the beginning of the 20-th century by K.E.Tsiolkovsky.

Tsiolkovsky was a self-taught man. In his childhood he lost his hearing but this did not prevent him from acquiring knowledge. With endless patience his mother went on teaching him, and after her death he began studying by himself.

On having reached a point where reading books at home could teach no more, the sixteen year old boy went to Moscow where he continued his studies in libraries and lecture rooms.

For three years he studied physics, astronomy, mechanics and geometry with the problems of flights and interplanetary travel in his mind. Having come across the law of action and reaction and the law of persistence of the centre of gravity he realized that these two laws together constituted the solution of cosmic flight problems. Seventy years before the appearance of the multi-stage rocket it was a tremendous step forward.

After having completed courses, he obtained the post of mathematics master at school where he taught for nearly 40 years.

The main problem Tsiolkovsky had been working at for many years was creating a theory of interplanetary travel. At the time when man first rose into the air, he proposed rockets for interplanetary communication. In his work “The study of cosmic space by rocket engines” which is often referred to by many scientists everywhere in the world, K.Tsiolkovsky put forward a scientifically well-founded theory of cosmic flights. The ideas presented in this work served as basis for the development of astronautics. He laid the foundation of all subsequent rocket theories, proved the rocket to be the very ship upon which the man would be able to leave the earth penetrating into boundless spaces and outlined his design of the first jet-driven flying machine. ¹ It was Tsiolkovsky who suggested the idea of a multi-stage rocket and of a man-made satellite which could serve as a laboratory for studying the universe.

This man who had neither forerunners nor experience, who had no model to follow, nevertheless succeeded in producing a workable design for a liquid-cooled rocket combustion chamber. ² And the first man-made satellite was taken into the skies by a type of a rocket designed by Tsiolkovsky many years ago. Moreover, the orbit along which the satellite sped had been also calculated by him. Realization of many of the projects due to Tsiolkovsky became possible only in our days. His dream that “man kind must not remain eternally on the earth” is now a reality. Tsiolkovsky understood that to realize his dream the efforts of many people were necessary.

The rocket the shape of which he had shown to the world was produced in practical form by his successors: scientists, designers and engineers. Due to Tsiolkovsky’s work being successful scientists and inventors created manned space ships.

Notes:

1. jet-driven flying machine – реактивний літак;

2. liquid-cooled rocket combustion chamber – камера згорання з рідинним охолодженням;

3. to bring to completion – закінчити.

Answer the questions:

1. Whose words became an axiom of astronautics?

2. Where and how did Tsiolkovsky acquire knowledge?

3. What were the two laws that constituted the solution of cosmic flight problems?

4. What was the main problem Tsiolkovsky had been working at for many years?

5. What was his contribution in the development of astronautics?