Robert Goddard, M.A. 1910, Ph.D. 1911, had big dreams of going to Mars years before he launched the first liquid-fueled rocket on March 16, 1926. Ninety-seven years after that historic launch, Charles Slatkin ’74 has his own dreams about inspiring the next generation of scientists and space explorers. 

Slatkin — who, like Goddard, was a Clark professor after graduating — purchased Goddard’s childhood home in Worcester when it went on the market in 2021. He imagines the home could host think tanks about space and science and be a destination for school field trips, celebrating Goddard's achievement and encouraging the so-called Mars generation to make the next big discovery. 

“There's this misconception that space is all about space tourism and that it's a waste of time when there are so many troubles on Earth,” Slatkin says. “Most space exploration these days involves remote sensing, monitoring climate change, telecommunications, the internet. We wouldn’t have the connectivity we have, and we wouldn't have the sense of planet that we have without space.”

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.