I'm reminded of the film "October Sky" where Jake Gyllenhaal's character (and I feel like a terrible nerd for not recalling the character, who is (was?) an actu

I'm reminded of the film "October Sky" where Jake Gyllenhaal's character (and I feel like a terrible nerd for not recalling the character, who is (was?) an actual NASA engineer, iirc), upon witnessing Sputnik-1 on a clear night, became obsessed with space flight and rocketry in particular. Got himself a bunch of really advanced texts on the subject and just powered through them, lazily learning the necessary math as needed, as you suggest. Once a poor student (bit of a slacker), he went on to make himself some rockets in relatively short order. Excellent flick. If you haven't seen it, I recommend giving it a watch.