Robert H. Goddard
On March 16, 1926, he launched the world's first liquid fueled rocket.  It reached a height of  at a speed of . When he suggested that a rocket could travel fast enough to leave the Earth and reach the Moon, the newspapers made fun of him. Many of his ideas, such as multi stage rockets, and the concept of escape velocity are now part of modern rocket science. He has been called "the father of space flight."