WAS THE ROCKET 'INVENTED' OR 'ACCIDENTALLY DISCOVERED'? SOME NEW OBSERVATIONS ON ITS ORIGINS

摘要

The history of space flight would not have been possible without a single object - the rocket - one of most complex engineering feats in human history. However, a closer examination of the earliest history of the basic rocket, a gunpowder-propelled device developed in China around-1,000 years ago, suggests that it originated as an accidental discovery rather than as a deliberately planned invention. This paper will examine the evidence in support of the idea of accidental discovery, including new observations on the earliest concepts of rocket motion, not only in China but also in the West.