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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edward Forman | 1/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Forman | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T10:59:26.610331+00:00 | kb-cron |
Edward Seymour Forman (December 3, 1912 – February 12, 1973) was an American engineer and inventor known for his pioneering work in early rocketry in the United States. Forman, along with his collaborators in Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology (GALCIT), demonstrated the first practical jet-assisted take-off (JATO) of an aircraft in the United States. Forman was among the GALCIT innovators that went on to found Aerojet General Corporation, the largest rocket technology manufacturer in the 1940s, and the GALCIT Rocket Research Group itself became the precursor of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
== Early life and education == Forman was born in Gillespie, Illinois, the youngest of four brothers. The family moved to Pasadena, California and Forman attended Washington Junior High School, where he met Jack Parsons, who would become his lifelong collaborator and friend. Forman found Parsons, who was two years younger than he, being bullied at school and rescued him. Soon after that, the two boys grew a strong bond over their common interest in science fiction. Forman was an avid reader of the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which is quoted as having influenced a generation of scientists and thinkers, including Carl Sagan. Inspired by science fiction, Forman and Parsons started building model rockets in their backyards and adopted the Latin phrase Ad Astra per Aspera (through rough ways to the stars)as their motto. "It was our desire and intent to develop the ability to rocket to the moon", Forman later said about their high ambition as teenagers. During high school at John Muir High in Pasadena, Forman and Parsons continued with their experiments in their backyards and out in the deserts. Forman left high school before getting a degree and enrolled in Pasadena Junior College. With his overriding interest in rocketry, Forman took on an array of odd jobs to make ends meet. He worked as carpenter, chauffeur and postal worker as well as airplane mechanic, sheet metal worker and apprentice machinist in aircraft and ammunition factories. Meanwhile, Parsons found part-time work in Hercules Powder Company, an explosive manufacturer, where he taught himself to be a chemist. The pair used their newfound skills to improve the design of their rockets and, as the tests grew more complex and explosive, moved their testing site into the nearby Arroyo Seco, a dry canyon wash at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains.
== Research ==