Pedro Paulet


Pedro Eleodoro Paulet Mostajo was a Peruvian diplomat who claimed to be the first person to build a liquid-propellant rocket engine and modern rocket propulsion system.

Career

Paulet's claims were unknown prior to October 27, 1927, when the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio published a letter he wrote, in which he claimed to have conceived a "rocket airplane project" 30 years prior. Recognizing that rocketry was beginning to boom in Europe, Paulet sought witnesses to help corroborate his claims. None came forward, even though Paulet's letter was widely circulated by Alexander Scherschevsky, a Russian national, in summary form. Had Paulet's claims been authenticated, he might today be considered the father of liquid-propellant rocketry, rather than Robert H. Goddard, who in 1926, flew a liquid-fueled rocket engine in a test vehicle.

Legacy

The Peruvian Air Force, in its Aeronautics Museum in Lima, has a "Pedro Paulet Hall" exhibit, where the original sketches and scale models of Paulet’s claimed inventions, are on view.