His character in the Universal Pictures film "October Sky" was played by Chris Owen. ASME Membership (1 year) has been added to your cart. The young, beautiful chemistry teacher at Big Creek High School, A young engineer from Ohio, Jake Mosby comes from a wealthy family, and frequently shows off his wealth by driving expensive cars and going on expensive dates. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. Quentin Taylor Wilson, 76, of Amarillo passed away on Friday, August 30, 2019. Reverend Josiah Lanier is the preacher for Coalwoods main church, which is owned by the same mining company that dominates town life. When they begin hanging out, Sonny's mom Elsie is quick to take Quentin under her wing. Built by Birdeye. October Sky is based on the book, The Rocket Boys, by Homer "Sonny" Hickam, Jr. His moving memoir, set in the 1950s, tells the story of six teenagers growing up in the West Virginia coal mining town of Coalwood. Create your account. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. For the English TV presenter, motoring journalist, author and TV producer, see, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=October_Sky_(book)&oldid=1125105992, Articles needing additional references from January 2019, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 2 December 2022, at 06:12. You see, unlike Sonny, whose parents will be able to send both their sons to college, Quentin says his parents ''just barely keep me and my sisters in clothes and corn bread.'' "The shuttle was the most expensive space launcher ever built and required an astonishing amount of maintenance and refurbishment after every flight to allow it to fly again. Together this group built several rockets and competed in a National Science Fair. He reluctantly agrees to teach calculus when. O'Dell. Jake is nonetheless a wise, likeable young man, The founder of Coalwood, and the first man to mine for coal underneath it. Their conflict becomes an impasse, and they often fight. Once logged in, you can add biography in the database. I know where I was when I saw iton an airplane, watching grown men cry. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Tabor, Mason. The son of a coal miner in West Virginia, Homer's life is colored black. Just like Sonny, Quentin dreams of working with NASA someday. The movie October Sky and the memoir Rocket Boys written by Homer Sonny Hickam (one of the boys) featured them and their achievements. Together, Quentin and Sonny partner up, using Quentin's math abilities, and Sonny's strategic, problem-solving skills to perfect the crafting of their rockets. [1] Today, it is one of the most often picked community/library reads in the United States. Though Quentin starts out as an outsider and a bit of a know-it-all in Homer Hickam's October Sky, he becomes a valuable member of the BCMA and a strong friend to Sonny. Jimmy O'Dell Carroll. With our last designs, our rockets went supersonic within a half-second of ignition. With over 1,900 locations, Dignity Memorial providers proudly serve over 375,000 families a year. Have you ever had to work with a group on a school project? In 1998, retired NASA engineer and McDowell County native Homer Hickam published his boyhood memoir, Rocket Boys. Inspired by the launch of Sputnik, they formed the BCMA - the big Creek Missile Agency - and began building rockets on their own. "Rocket Boys Characters". To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. Quentin knows ''success will get us noticed by someone.'' Sonny teams up with Miss Reily, his teacher, and his friends, to make a rocket for the science fair, hoping to earn money. Let's find out more about this particular ''rocket boy'' in this lesson. The Dignity Memorial brand name is used to identify a network of licensed funeral, cremation and cemetery providers that include affiliates of Service Corporation International, 1929 Allen Parkway, Houston, Texas. the Rocket Boy in charge of measuring how high the different rockets went with his theodolit, because he had a car, he was a driver of the Rocket Boys, the Rocket Boy who limped because of his polic, the inspirational physics and cemistry teacher who helped the Rocket Boys, helped select Sonny's clothes for the National Science Fair, the company machinist who helped the boys with their rockets, the company manager of the Coalwood mine operations, the mine engineer whose father owns about 20% of the company, the machine shop worker who was punished for helping Sonny. It is a story of growing up in a mining town, and a boy's pursuit of amateur rocketry in a coal mining town. Quentin's attitude, which borders on arrogance at times, actually masks pretty admirable dedication and determination. This activity was created by a Quia Web subscriber. He worked as a chemist in Midland TX, and as a petroleum engineer living in Texas and Oklahoma. You can help out on the Wiki by expanding it. What else do we know about this character in Homer Hickam's 'October Sky'? 39 lessons. After his death, Elsie gives Sonny a cardboard box his father had kept. Homer Hickam Jr., O'Dell Carroll, Roy Lee Cooke, Sherman Siers. Wilson attended Big Creek High School with Homer Hickam and the rest of the Rocket Boys. Too much time in weightlessness is bad for human health. He currently resides in Amarillo, Texas. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Energy Blog: Airport Cybersecurity Needs Will Grow with Electric-Powered Flight. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Quentin carries around books all the time because he's always studying. Rocket Boys Wiki is a FANDOM Books Community. Inspired by the launch of Sputnik, they formed the BCMA - the big Creek Missile Agency - and began building rockets on their own. While. Aliases "Had they done so, they might have truly created a reusable spacecraft, which was the central idea for the program. Quentin Quotes in Rocket Boys You can help us out by revising, improving and updating Privacy and Security Statement In real life, there were six in the group: Homer, Billy Rose, Quentin Wilson, Jimmy O'Dell Carroll, Roy Lee Cooke and Sherman Siers. In the movie October Sky, he is called Homer.) Quentin Wilson. Coalwoods general mining superintendent, and, A machinist at the machine shop, Mr. Caton helps, An engineer whose research on nozzles, air pressure, and propulsion plays a major role in the success of the BCMAs later, Mr. Hartsfield is Big Creek High Schools math teacher. Quentin is portrayed by Chris Owen. His father comes home from the mine everyday with a nasty cough, covered in coal. Homer "Sonny" Hickam Jr. lives in a small coal mining town in West Virginia named Coalwood. (There are five different Auk XXIIs.) October Sky is the first memoir in a series of four, by American engineer Homer Hickam Jr. originally published in 1998 as Rocket Boys. Quentin is a thoughtful young manfar more so than his peersand he's the first to point out that victory at a science fair could translate into scholarship money and a career in engineering. "Quentin Wilson" redirects here. read analysis of Reverend Little Richard. Quentin Wilson GradeSaver, 8 June 2019 Web. Space Station Could Bring Weight to the Weightless. Quentin goes on to become a successful engineer. Why? Wilson has three daughters[1] and travels extensively speaking about the rocket boys' childhood. John Eye Blevins. His character in the Universal Pictures film "October Sky" was played by Chris Owen. He is a strong believer in the scientific method, and helps the other boys see how important it is to take lots of notes on each test. Where does He lives? It explodes violently, destroying his mother's fence. Authorized Resellers and Electronic Version Licensees, ISO Committees & Technical Advisory Groups, Other Association Offers for ASME Members, Volunteer Orientation & Leadership Training. In December, Homer Hickam Jr. went up to Quentin in the school gym in order to get his help on the math for the rocketry. The work at the mine is horrific, but honorable, and so Homer Jr, or Sonny as he is called, feels pressured into work in the mine. After Hickam and his friends won Gold at the 1960 National Science Fair, he went on to college and eventually, at the age of 38, joined NASA. Electric-powered aircraft will be flying within the next few years, and airports need to begin planning for their impact on cybersecurity systems. As children lined the. None of his classmates really want anything to do with the boy everyone thinks of as the ''class joke.'' Stow, OH 44224. His character in the Universal Pictures film "October Sky" was played by Chris Owen. A loud, obnoxious bully and member of the Big Creek high school football, A rude, obnoxious young man who lives in Coalwood and resents the Hickam family because he blames. Miss Reily encourages Sonny to use his uncanny abilities in research and independent study to enter a science fair, showing him that, although most kids don't believe her, there is always a way out of Coalwoodbecoming a scientist. That's what interests him in a partnership with Sonny, and fuels his insistence they enter the science fair during their last year of high school. You see, Quentin is very smart, which is why Sonny approaches him for help in building rockets in the first place. "The space shuttle was a compromise design and not the spacecraft NASA engineers wanted to build," Hickam says. Woman who was saved by Mr. Hickam from a fire when she was a baby; she's a prostitute. Quentin Wilson is the BCMA's smart, thorough scientist. In 1999, Universal Studios released . 5 chapters | Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 1912, d. 1989) Was the father of Homer Hickam Jr., Jim Hickam, and the husband of Elsie Hickam. because he had a car, he was a driver of the Rocket Boys. Perhaps Quentin sees something in Homer than even Homer isn't aware of yet. Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs The price of yearly membership depends on a number of factors, so final price will be calculated during checkout. Quentin Wilson is an American engineer and is one of the original Rocket Boys. Homer Hadley Hickam Jr. (born February 19, 1943) is an American author, Vietnam War veteran, and a former NASA engineer who trained the first Japanese astronauts.His 1998 memoir Rocket Boys (also published as October Sky) was a New York Times Best Seller and was the basis for the 1999 film October Sky.Hickam's body of written work also includes several additional best-selling memoirs and . He is excitable and often confounds the other members and townspeople with his advanced vocabulary. Roy Lee Cooke. thissection. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. It's not that there is necessarily anything wrong with Quentin. [3], http://amarillo.com/stories/021899/ent_grow.shtml, "Students prepare for upcoming lecture by Hickam", http://amarillo.com/stories/111400/new_hickam.shtml, https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Biography:Quentin_Wilson&oldid=491194. It's a film that tells the story of a teenager in a small coal mining town in West Virginia who has little chance to escape the minesuntil he finds a love and ability for rocketry. After graduating from Big Creek, he attended Marshall College in Huntington, West Virginia graduating with a major in Chemistry. He attended and graduated from Big Creek High School, Warrior Mine, W. Virginia. Rocket Boys study guide contains a biography of Homer Hickam, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Instead, he makes Sonny do them all over again himself. And when it comes time to put that learning to the test and design a new type of rocket, Quentin supports Sonny while he works out the calculations and designs. 2023 The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. One of those important roles belongs to Quentin Wilson. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. A celebration of Quentin's life will be held on Saturday, September 07, 2019 at 2pm in the First Presbyterian Church, 1100 S. Harrison, with Brady Clark presiding. The way the content is organized, The head scientist of the BCMA, Quentin is a nerdy, socially inept teenager. A Coalwood local, popular with teenagers, who hosts lavish parties and loves to play rock 'n roll music. The Rocket Boys enjoy mixed success during their three-year rocket launching campaign (1957 to 1960). He Graduated from Marshall University with a Bachelor Degree in Chemistry, and did post graduate work at West TX State University. Turner plays a key role in the success of. All these jobs required a range of engineering knowledge including systems engineering, operations research, computer design, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, materials, and so forth," he says. Career He currently resides in Amarillo, Texas. 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