More than 150 years ago,a church minister from Monimail in Fife first suggested that rockets could flit to the moon and go faster in the vacuum of space - before Jules Verne
For generations of space enthusiasts, Jules Verne was the first person to imagine manned space flight. But it has now emerged that the science fiction writer was beaten to it, or by an obscure Scottish church minister from a sleepy village in Fife.
An expert in the history of space exploration has discovered that Rev William Leitch,a Presbyterian minister from Monimail near Cupar, was the first to develop the understanding that not only could rockets flit in space but could achieve so more quickly and smoothly external Earth’s atmosphere.
I just learned that a Canadian invented space travel: Professor William Leitch in 1861. chilly! http://t.co/lpWiAVwTzX pic.twitter.com/OFQebTNFtcContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com