h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth...and darkness was over the face of the deep and god said let there be light and there was light.... etc...

see the moon

see it pass over the world and dip down over the edge

see the elephant lift its leg to allow the moon to pass

That's the one.

Dunmanifestin.........home of the gods

Just for Taff, a summary of how far we have come.

We now know that the fuel tanks on the Saturn IV B, the first stage of the rocket, was a development of Dewars vacuum flask, the only container that could hold a liquid gas.

Now we ar looking for the pioneers of rocketry (Von Braun has already been klaxoned as an obvious choice: I am looking for his boss and those that came before), and we are still looking for the navigational aid that works on gravitationat and electromagnetic principles.....


OK???

Carry on!!

<<(Von Braun has already been klaxoned as an obvious choice: I am looking for his boss >>

adolf hitler

Lucky Sod!!!

Adolf Hitler was his bosses boss!!

(Should have klaxoned that, shouldn't I?)


GT

Umm, I was thinking of the American bloke, Goddard. I thought he was refered to as the father of rockets. I know that von Brauns boss in Germany at one stage was an SS officer.

Wow Keith!!!

First time on the QI and you hit one of the correct answers!!

Indeed, Robert Goddard was the father of American Rocketry!!!

Get yourself on the QI scoreboard, and accept +3 for a correct answer!!


GT

always the quiet ones...

have we had a contribution from china in this as they started the rocketry with gunpowder

england then took fire works and came up with the consgrave rocket artillery, the fore runner of the missile regiments, with their nuclear capabilities

A funny fact: Goddard,was publicly taken to task in 1920 by the New York Times for suggesting that rockets could work in a vacuum. The paper didn't retract this story until 1969.

Those Congreve rockets are mentioned in the American national anthem
"And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air".

I never knew that (until now)

"and we are still looking for the navigational aid that works on gravitationat and electromagnetic principles....."

Is that a compass?

electro-magnetic compass

>>and we are still looking for the navigational aid that works on gravitationat and electromagnetic principles<<

*electromagnetic* I could cope with but adding *gravitational* has me flummoxed.

Risky, but... unless, of course you're referring to the gimbals?

... around a gyroscope of course

Post 91 Taff. Not going that far back, but have a DGI +1 for Chinese.

Post 92 Keith. +1DGI for info on Goddard.

Post 93/94 Taff/Keith Electromagnetics are involved. What repaces gravity in space???

Post 95/96 Rod. Gymballed motors would be controlled by this instrument, but it is not a gyroscope. It would take three gyroscopes to perform the task that this single instrument does.



GT

I should know this, but. The only thing I can come up with is ... Aha

a cluster of accelerometers, one for each axis (can't think of the word)

Wahey!!!!!!!

Rod has got it!!Correct +3.

Accelerometer is the name I was looking for! My info is that only one is needed, but in space of course, there would be back-up ones....


Anyone wish to tell me who the other two rocket engineers were. One was largely ignored by his government until the early sixties, the other could not be ignored; at least not in England...



GT

barnes wallace, him of the bouncing bomb

cotril was it, him of the jet engine