Academic Regalia, Doctoral Hood, Robert H. Goddard

This doctoral hood from a set of academic regalia (the full set includes a robe, mortarboard, and hood) was worn by the American rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945) when he received his doctorate in Physics from Clark University, Worcester, Mass., on June 15, 1911. The traditional American doctoral hood features a blue velvet border (indicating a Doctor of Philosophy) with white and green silk interior (the colors of Clark University). Paul E. Garber, the founding curator of what later became the National Air and Space Museum, requested the regalia from Goddard's widow in 1958 for a biographical exhibit about Goddard, who launched the world's first liquid fuel rocket in March 1926.

Because Goddard had lent the outfit to Dr. John Elliott Nafe, who wore it for his own doctoral hooding at Columbia University in 1948, however, it was initially lent to the Museum by Dr. Nafe, a prominent oceanographer and geophysicist. It has been in the Museum's collection ever since.