Yakov Isidorovich Perel’man

Yakov Isidorovich Perel'man, 1882–1942,born in Byelostok, Russia (today Białystok, Poland)

Perel’man spread the word about rocketry and spaceflight to a Russian audience years ahead of Western Europe. Before World War I, he began to popularize Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s ideas in science works for the general public. In 1915 he published Interplanetary Journeys, the first book in the world on the science and technology of spaceflight.