Date: ca. 1924-1928
Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 10 7/8in. x 1 3/4in. x 1in. (27.62 x 4.45 x 2.54cm)
Materials:
Overall, glass; shiny silver cylinder of unknown metal, possibly aluminum, inside of broken ended tube.
Glass, Copper, Wax Cork, Aluminum, Wood, Cardboard, Natural Fabric
American rocket pioneer Robert Goddard (1882-1945) used this glass tube device between 1924 and 1928 in his experiments to determine the feasibility of ion propulsion for space travel. Ion engines, in which electrically charged particles of atoms are discharged, produce extremely high exhaust velocities. Experiments in space with ion propulsion first took place in 1964.
This artifact may have been made by one of Goddard's graduate students Louis M. Sleeper. Mrs. Goddard gave it to the Smithsonian in 1965 as part of a set of laboratory glassware from her husband's pioneering ion-propulsion experiments.
Gift of Mrs. Robert Goddard
