The Memorial House-Museum of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is located on the banks of the Oka River, on the eastern outskirts of Kaluga. The great Russian scientist seemed to his contemporaries to be an eccentric dreamer, but after only three decades his works formed the basis of cosmonautics and rocket science.
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was born in 1857 in the village of Izhevskoe near Ryazan. As a child, he was seriously ill with scarlet fever and almost deaf. He could not study at a general school and was engaged in self-education. Already as a child, he became interested in science fiction, read novels by Jules Verne, H. G. Wells and dreamed of space travel.
From 1880 to 1892, he lived and worked as a teacher in the city of Borovsk, Kaluga region. There he got married, and in his marriage he had seven children. The Tsiolkovsky House in Borovsk is also now a memorial museum of the great scientist. In 1892, the family moved to Kaluga. At first, they lived in rented apartments, but in 1904 Tsiolkovsky bought a one-story house on the banks of the Oka River. In 1908, a severe flood partially destroyed the house. During the renovation, Tsiolkovsky added a first floor. There he placed his room and workshop for experiments. In this form, the Tsiolkovsky House has been preserved to this day.
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky wrote his first scientific papers back in Borovsk in 1881. They concerned the kinetics of gases and aerodynamic similarity. Moscow scientists noticed the abilities of the young scientist and accepted him into the ranks of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society. In 1886, Tsiolkovsky completed the calculations of a large controlled balloon. His works acquired a scientific character, although he continued to be interested in fiction. For example, at the same time he wrote the novel "On the Moon".
Up until 1904, the surrounding people considered Tsiolkovsky an eccentric who was engaged in useless trinkets. However, his work became more and more fundamental. They began to be recognized in the Academy of Sciences. He studied aerodynamics and resistance of materials for all-metal aircraft. All this formed the basis of the rocket science. Tsiolkovsky began to receive patents for his developments.
All-Russian fame came to Tsiolkovsky in the 1920s. At that time, aviation was already actively developing, and Tsiolkovsky`s work encouraged scientists to develop not only airplanes, but also missiles. During these years, Tsiolkovsky claimed that space flights would begin in the coming decades.
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky died in 1935. He was buried in the center of Tsiolkovsky Park. A large obelisk is installed over his grave. Less than 30 years later, Sergei Korolev, based on Tsiolkovsky`s work, designed space rockets and the first man has been in space.
In 1961, after Yuri Gagarin`s space flight, construction of a Museum of the History of Cosmonautics began near Tsiolkovsky Park. Yuri Gagarin and Sergey Korolev came to Kaluga to personally found this museum. It has become Russia`s largest museum dedicated to space exploration.
Followers of Tsiolkovsky wrote about his works: "The inventive works of Tsiolkovsky seem to be a transitional bridge between fiction and reality." The following year after his death, a memorial museum was created in the Tsiolkovsky House in Kaluga. The modest atmosphere in which the family of the great scientist lived has been preserved in the house. The scientist`s personal belongings, numerous devices and machines have also been preserved here. In the workshop you can see the famous Tsiolkovsky bicycle, as well as the ice skates.
