Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky

At the age of nine, Tsiolkovsky contracted scarlet fever, a disease characterized by a rash and high fever. The illness led to hearing complications, and the boy became deaf.

He was expelled from the gymnasium due to poor academic performance. At 16, he failed to enter the Moscow Technical School. After that, Konstantin engaged solely in self-education and tutoring.

He economized on food, as he spent his money on books and reagents. Having become a self-taught scholar, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky proposed his first project of an interplanetary rocket as early as 1903.