Editing Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (section)

==Early life==
Tsiolkovsky was born in {{ill|Izhevskoye|ru|Ижевское (Рязанская область)}} (now in [[Spassky District, Ryazan Oblast]]), in the [[Russian Empire]], to a middle-class family. His father, Makary Edward Erazm Ciołkowski, was a [[Polish people|Polish]] [[forester]] of [[Roman Catholic]] faith who relocated to Russia.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Pictorial History of Rockets |publisher=NASA |page=4 |url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/rockets-guide-20-history.pdf |access-date=3 February 2024}}</ref> His [[Russian Orthodoxy|Russian Orthodox]] mother Maria Ivanovna Yumasheva was of mixed [[Volga Tatars|Volga Tatar]]  and [[Russians|Russian]] origin.<ref>[http://www.melnikoff.com/nikita/tsiolkovskiy/earth_way.htm Земной путь звездоплавателя]. melnikoff.com</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://top-antropos.com/history/19-century/item/287-konstantin-tsiolkovsky-biografija|title=Константин Циолковский. Биография, 18 фото|website=Top-antropos.com|access-date=10 August 2017}}</ref> According to family tradition, Tsiolkovsky family is of the [[Zaporozhian Cossack]] descent, related to [[Severyn Nalyvaiko|Cossack Hetman Nalyvaiko]].{{Sfn|Львов|1963|page=8}} His father was successively a forester, teacher, and minor government official.  At the age of 9, Konstantin caught [[scarlet fever]] and lost his hearing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deaf astronomers John Goodricke and Konstantin Tsiolkowski |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/deaf-astronomers-john-goodricke-konstantin-tsiolkowski |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=www.rmg.co.uk |language=en}}</ref> 

When he was 13, his mother died.<ref name="NotableScientists">{{citation|last=Narins|first=Brigham|title=Notable Scientists from 1900 to the Present|volume=5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/notablescientist0005unse/page/2256 2256–2258]|publisher=The Gale Group|location=Farmington Hills, MI|year=2001|isbn=0-7876-5454-X|url=https://archive.org/details/notablescientist0005unse/page/2256}}</ref> He was not admitted to elementary schools because of his hearing problem, so he was self-taught.<ref name="NotableScientists"/> As a reclusive home-schooled child, he passed much of his time by reading books and became interested in mathematics and physics. As a teenager, he began to contemplate the possibility of space travel.<ref name=brit/>

Tsiolkovsky spent three years attending [[Rumyantsev Museum|a Moscow library]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Blitz |first=Matt |date=2017-10-04 |title=How a Russian Scientist's Sci-Fi Genius Made Sputnik Possible |url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a28485/russian-rocket-genius-konstantin-tsiolkovsky/ |access-date=2022-09-01 |website=Popular Mechanics |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="bio" /> where [[Russian cosmism]] proponent [[Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov|Nikolai Fyodorov]] worked. He later came to believe that [[space colonization|colonizing space]] would lead to the perfection of the human species, with immortality and a carefree existence.<ref name="bio">[http://www.informatics.org/museum/tsiol.html The life of Konstantin Eduardovitch Tsiolkovsky 1857–1935] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615044125/http://www.informatics.org/museum/tsiol.html |date=15 June 2012 }}. Informatics.org (19 September 1935). Retrieved 4 May 2012.</ref>

Inspired by the fiction of [[Jules Verne]], Tsiolkovsky theorized many aspects of space travel and [[Spacecraft propulsion|rocket propulsion]]. He is considered the father of [[spaceflight]] and the first person to conceive the [[space elevator]], becoming inspired in 1895 by the newly constructed [[Eiffel Tower]] in Paris.

Despite the youth's growing knowledge of physics, his father was concerned that he would not be able to provide for himself financially as an adult and brought him back home at the age of 19 after learning that he was overworking himself and going hungry. Afterwards, Tsiolkovsky passed the teacher's exam and went to work at a school in [[Borovsk]] near Moscow. He met and married his wife Varvara Sokolova during this time. Despite being stuck in [[Kaluga]], a small town far from major learning centers, Tsiolkovsky managed to make scientific discoveries on his own.

The first two decades of the 20th century were marred by personal tragedy. In 1902, Tsiolkovsky's son Ignaty committed suicide. In 1908, many of his accumulated papers were lost in a flood. In 1911, his daughter Lyubov was arrested for engaging in revolutionary activities.