Richard van der Riet Woolley Quote

The whole procedure [of shooting rockets into space]. presents difficulties of so fundamental a nature, that we are forced to dismiss the notion as essentially impracticable, in spite of the author's insistent appeal to put aside prejudice and to recollect the supposed impossibility of heavier-than-air flight before it was actually accomplished.

Reviewing P.E. Cleator's "Rockets in Space", Nature, March 14, 1936