Hi frlmerrin
Aside from the ever-reliable Wikipedia
I read it in a biography a good few years ago - so long ago that I can't recall the title. Somebody also suggested Darwin Among the Machines by George Dyson, though I haven't read it myself. I guess Erasmus had to go for gaseous propellants because the technology to liquefy hydrogen and oxygen had yet to be invented.
Aside from the ever-reliable Wikipedia
In notes dating to 1779, Darwin made a sketch of a simple hydrogen-oxygen rocket engine, with gas tanks connected by plumbing and pumps to an elongated combustion chamber and expansion nozzle, a concept not to be seen again until one century later.
I read it in a biography a good few years ago - so long ago that I can't recall the title. Somebody also suggested Darwin Among the Machines by George Dyson, though I haven't read it myself. I guess Erasmus had to go for gaseous propellants because the technology to liquefy hydrogen and oxygen had yet to be invented.