Jack Parsons (1914–1952) was an American rocket engineer and rocket propulsion researcher, chemist, and Thelemite occultist. Associated with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Parsons was one of the principal founders of both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Aerojet Engineering Corporation. He invented the first rocket engine using a castable composite rocket propellant, and helped develop both liquid-fuel and solid-fuel rockets. Inspired by science fiction literature, he developed an interest in rocketry in his childhood and in 1928 began amateur rocket experiments with school friend Ed Forman. In 1934 he united with Forman and graduate student Frank Malina to form the Caltech-affiliated GALCIT Rocket Research Group, supported by Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory chairman Theodore von Kármán. After working on Jet-Assisted Take Off for the U.S. military, the GALCIT Group became JPL in 1943. For his contributions to rocket engineering, his advocacy of space exploration and human spaceflight, and his role in the founding of JPL and Aerojet, Parsons is regarded as one of the most important early figures of the U.S. space program.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Parsons_(rocket_engineer)

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1485:

Having seized the throne of England after the War of the Roses, Henry VII was formally crowned at Westminster Abbey. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VII_of_England

1806:

War of the Fourth Coalition: Believing they were massively outnumbered, the 5,300-man German garrison at Stettin, Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland), surrendered to a much smaller French force without a fight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitulation_of_Stettin

1905:

Russian Revolution: Tsar Nicholas II reluctantly signed the "October Manifesto", establishing the State Duma as the elected legislature in Imperial Russia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Manifesto

1960:

Surgeon and scientist Michael Woodruff performed the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Woodruff

1991:

The Madrid Conference, an attempt by the international community to start a peace process through negotiations involving Israel and the Arab countries, convened in Madrid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid_Conference_of_1991

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

parge: (construction) A coat of cement mortar on the face of rough masonry, the earth side of foundation and basement walls. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parge

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

A work is never completed except by some accident such as weariness, satisfaction, the need to deliver, or death: for, in relation to who or what is making it, it can only be one stage in a series of inner transformations.   --Paul Valéry https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Val%C3%A9ry