Gaetano Arturo Crocco

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Gaetano Arturo Crocco
Gaetano Arturo Crocco
Personal information
Name	Gaetano Arturo Crocco
Nationality	Italy
Birth date	1877
Date of death	1968
Work
Institution memberships	University of Rome
Significant advance	Aeronautics rocket propulsion

Gaetano Arturo Crocco (1877-1968) was the founder of the Italian Rocket Society, and went on to become Italy's leading space scientist.

In 1927, Crocco begun working with solid-propellant rockets and, in 1929, designed and built the first liquid-propellant rocket motors in Italy. He began work with monopropellants (fuel and oxidizer combined in one chemical liquid) in 1932, making him one of the first researchers in this field.

As head of the School of Aeronautics of the University of Rome, he performed research on flight mechanics, structural design, and high altitude flight in addition to his work in rocket propulsion.

Because of his early efforts in aeronautics, Italy orbited its own satellites starting in the 1960s.

[edit] External links

• Brief bio of Crocco
• Longer bio (in Italian)
• Bio that mentions his spaceflight work (Italian)