Hermann Julius Oberth (; 25 June 1894 – 28 December 1989) was an
Austro-Hungarian-born
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
and
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
. He is considered one of the founding fathers of
rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
ry and
astronautics
Astronautics (or cosmonautics) is the theory and practice of travel beyond Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Spaceflight is one of its main applications and space science its overarching field.
The term ''astronautics'' (originally ''astron ...
, along with
Robert Esnault-Pelterie Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie (8 November 1881 – 6 December 1957) was a French aircraft designer and spaceflight theorist. He is referred to as being one of the founders of modern rocketry and astronautics, along with the Russian Kons ...
,
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (russian: Константи́н Эдуа́рдович Циолко́вский , , p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj , a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) ...
,
Robert Goddard
Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945) was an American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket. Goddard successfully laun ...
and
Herman Potočnik.During WWII he supported Nazi Germany's ''
Aggregat
The Aggregat series (German for "Aggregate") was a set of ballistic missile designs developed in 1933–1945 by a research program of Nazi Germany's Armed Forces (Wehrmacht). Its greatest success was the A4, more commonly known as the V-2.
...
'' rocket program.
Early life
Oberth was born to a
Transylvanian Saxon
The Transylvanian Saxons (german: Siebenbürger Sachsen; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen''; ro, Sași ardeleni, sași transilvăneni/transilvani; hu, Erdélyi szászok) are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania ...
family in Nagyszeben (Hermannstadt), Austrian-Hungary Empire (today
Sibiu
Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...
in
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
). He was fluent in
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
language. At the age of 11 years, Oberth's interest in rocketry was set off by the novels of
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
, especially ''
From the Earth to the Moon
''From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes'' (french: De la Terre à la Lune, trajet direct en 97 heures 20 minutes) is an 1865 novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil W ...
'' and ''
Around the Moon
''Around the Moon'' (french: Autour de la Lune, 1869), also translated as ''Circling the Moon'' and ''All Around the Moon'', is the sequel to Jules Verne's 1865 novel, ''From the Earth to the Moon''. It is a science fiction tale which continues th ...
''. He was fond of reading them over and over until they were engraved in his memory. As a result, Oberth constructed his first
model rocket
A model rocket are small rockets designed to reach low altitudes (e.g., for model) and be recovered by a variety of means.
According to the United States National Association of Rocketry (NAR) Safety Code, model rockets are constructed of ...
as a school student at the age of 14. In his youthful experiments, he arrived independently at the concept of the
multistage rocket
A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage i ...
. However, during this time, he lacked the resources to put his ideas into practice.
In 1912, Oberth began the study of medicine in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, but at the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he was drafted into the
Imperial German Army, assigned to an infantry battalion, and sent to the
Eastern Front against
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. In 1915, Oberth was moved into a medical unit at a hospital in
Segesvár (German Schäßburg, Romanian Sighișoara),
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
, in Austria-Hungary (today Romania).
There he found the spare time to conduct a series of experiments concerning
weightlessness
Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G.
Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fi ...
, and later resumed his rocketry designs. By 1917, he showed designs of a missile using liquid propellant with a range of to
Hermann von Stein, the
Prussian Minister of War
The Prussian War Ministry was gradually established between 1808 and 1809 as part of a series of reforms initiated by the Military Reorganization Commission created after the disastrous Treaties of Tilsit. The War Ministry was to help bring the ...
.
[''Mort de Hermann Oberth, pionnier de la conquête spatiale'' ("The Death of Hermann Oberth, Space Conquest Pioneer"), in '']Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'', 1 January 1990, pp. 3, 16, accessed on 7 October 2006.
On 6 July 1918, Oberth married Mathilde Hummel, with whom he had four children. Among these were a son who died as a soldier in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and a daughter named Ilse Oberth (1924-1944) who was a rocket technician at the
Redl-Zipf
The Redl-Zipf V-2 rocket facility (code name ''Schlier'') located in central Austria between Vöcklabruck and Vöcklamarkt and established in September 1943 began operation for V-2 rocket motor testing after Raxwerke test equipment had been move ...
(code name ''Schlier'') V-2 rocket engine test facility and liquid oxygen plant and was killed when there was an accidental explosion on August 28, 1944. In 1919, Oberth once again moved to Germany, this time to study physics, initially in Munich and later at the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
.
In 1922, Oberth's proposed doctoral dissertation on rocket science was rejected as "utopian". However, professor
Augustin Maior of the
University of Cluj, Romania offered Oberth to defend his original dissertation there in order to receive the doctorate degree. He did successfully on 23 May 1923.
He next had his 92-page work published privately in June 1923 as the somewhat controversial book, ''Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen'' ("The Rocket into Planetary Space"). By 1929, Oberth had expanded this work to a 429-page book titled ''Wege zur Raumschiffahrt'' ("Ways to Spaceflight"). Oberth commented later that he made the deliberate choice not to write another doctoral dissertation. He wrote, "I refrained from writing another one, thinking to myself: Never mind, I will prove that I am able to become a greater scientist than some of you, even without the title of Doctor."
["Hermann Oberth, Father of Space Travel", at](_blank)
Kiosek.com (29 December 1989). Retrieved on 2015-06-27. Oberth criticized the
German system of education, saying "Our educational system is like an automobile which has strong rear lights, brightly illuminating the past. But looking forward, things are barely discernible."
Oberth became a member of the ''
Verein für Raumschiffahrt
''Verein'' is a German word, sometimes translated as ''union'', ''club'' or ''association'', and may refer to:
* ''Eingetragener Verein'' (e. V.), a registered voluntary association under German law
* Swiss Verein, a voluntary association under Sw ...
'' (VfR) – the "Spaceflight Society" – an amateur rocketry group that had taken great inspiration from his book, and Oberth acted as something of a mentor to the enthusiasts who joined the Society, which included persons such as
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...
, Rolf Engel,
Rudolf Nebel
Rudolf Nebel (21 March 1894 – 18 September 1978) was a spaceflight advocate active in Germany's amateur rocket group, the ''Verein für Raumschiffahrt'' (VfR – "Spaceflight Society") in the 1930s and in rebuilding German rocketry following Wor ...
or
Paul Ehmayr. Oberth lacked the opportunities to work or to teach at the college or university level, as did many well-educated experts in the physical sciences and engineering in the time period of the 1920s through the 1930s – with the situation becoming much worse during the worldwide
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
that started in 1929. Therefore, from 1924 through 1938, Oberth supported himself and his family by teaching
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
and
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
at the
Stephan Ludwig Roth High School in
Mediaș
Mediaș (; german: Mediasch, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Medwesch''/''Medveš'', hu, Medgyes) is the second largest town in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania.
Geographic location
Mediaș is located in the middle basin of Târnava Mare River, ...
, Romania.
Rocketry and space flight
In parts of 1928 and 1929, Oberth also worked in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
as a scientific consultant on the film, ''
Frau im Mond
''Honorifics'' are words that connote esteem or respect when used in addressing or referring to a person. In the German language, honorifics distinguish people by age, sex, profession, academic achievement, and rank. In the past, a distinction was ...
'' ("The Woman in the Moon"), which was directed and produced by the great film pioneer
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
at the
Universum Film AG
UFA GmbH, shortened to UFA (), is a film and television production company that unites all production activities of the media conglomerate Bertelsmann in Germany. Its name derives from Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (normally abbreviated as ...
company. This film was of enormous value in popularizing the ideas of rocketry and
space exploration
Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by robotic spacec ...
. One of Oberth's main assignments was to build and launch a rocket as a publicity event just before the film's premiere. He also designed the model of the ''
Friede
''Friede'' (German: peace) was a fictional spacecraft designed by Hermann Oberth and was featured in the 1929 silent movie ''Woman in the Moon''. The ''Friede'' was, at the time, the most realistic depiction of space travel, having multiple stage ...
'', the main rocket portrayed in the film.
On 5 June 1929, Oberth won the first (
Robert Esnault-Pelterie Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie (8 November 1881 – 6 December 1957) was a French aircraft designer and spaceflight theorist. He is referred to as being one of the founders of modern rocketry and astronautics, along with the Russian Kons ...
- André-Louis Hirsch)
Prix REP-Hirsch of the
French Astronomical Society
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...
for the encouragement of astronautics in his book ''Wege zur Raumschiffahrt'' ("Ways to Spaceflight") that had expanded ''Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen'' to a full-length book. The book is dedicated to
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
and
Thea von Harbou
Thea Gabriele von Harbou (27 December 1888 – 1 July 1954) was a German screenwriter, novelist, film director, and actress. She is remembered as the screenwriter of the science fiction film classic ''Metropolis'' (1927) and for the 19 ...
.
Oberth's student
Max Valier
Max Valier (9 February 1895 – 17 May 1930) was an Austrian rocketry pioneer. He was a leading figure in the world's first large-scale rocket program, Opel-RAK, and helped found the German ''Verein für Raumschiffahrt'' (VfR – "Spacefligh ...
joined forces with
Fritz von Opel
Fritz Adam Hermann von Opel (4 May 1899 – 8 April 1971) was a German rocket technology pioneer and automotive executive, nicknamed "Rocket-Fritz". He is remembered mostly for his spectacular demonstrations of rocket propulsion that earned him an ...
to create the world's first large-scale experimental rocket program
Opel-RAK
Opel-RAK were a series of rocket vehicles produced by German automobile manufacturer Fritz von Opel, of the Opel car company, in association with others, including Max Valier, Julius Hatry, and Friedrich Wilhelm Sander. Opel RAK is generally con ...
, leading to speed records for ground and rail vehicles and the world's first rocket plane.
Opel RAK.1
The Opel RAK.1 (also known as the Opel RAK.3) was the world's first purpose-built rocket-powered aircraft. It was designed and built by Julius Hatry under commission from Fritz von Opel, who flew it on September 30, 1929 in front of a large crowd ...
, a purpose-built design by
Julius Hatry
Julius Hatry (30 December 1906 – 7 November 2000) was a German aircraft designer and builder. He is remembered for his contributions to sailplane development in the early twentieth century and for building the world's first purpose-built ro ...
, was demonstrated to the public and world media on September 30, 1929, piloted by von Opel. Valier's and von Opel's demonstrations had a strong and long-lasting impact on later spaceflight pioneers, in particular on another of Oberth's students,
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...
.
Shortly after the Opel RAK team's successful liquid-fuel rocket launches of April 10 and 12, 1929 by
Friedrich Wilhelm Sander ''
Friedrich Wilhelm Sander (25 August 1885 in Glatz (Kłodzko) – 15 September 1938) was a German pyrotechnics and rocket technology engineer as well as manufacturer remembered for his contributions to rocket-powered flight as key protagonist of ...
at Opel Rennbahn in Rüsselsheim, Oberth conducted in the autumn of 1929 a static firing of his first liquid-fueled rocket motor, which he named the ''Kegeldüse''. The engine was built by
Klaus Riedel
Klaus Riedel (2 August 1907 – 4 August 1944) was a German rocket pioneer. He was involved in many early liquid-fuelled rocket experiments, and eventually worked on the V-2 missile programme at Peenemünde Army Research Center.
History
Ried ...
in a workshop space provided by the Reich Institution of Chemical Technology, and although it lacked a cooling system, it did run briefly. He was helped in this experiment by an 18-year-old student Wernher von Braun, who would later become a giant in both German and American rocket engineering from the 1940s onward, culminating with the gigantic
Saturn V
Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, with multistage rocket, three stages, and powered with liquid-propellant r ...
rockets that made it possible for man to land on the Moon in 1969 and in several following years. Indeed, Von Braun said of him:
In 1938, the Oberth family left
Sibiu
Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...
, Romania, for good, to first settle in Austria, then in
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, then in the United States, and finally back to a democratic West Germany. Oberth himself moved on first to the
Technische Hochschule
A ''Technische Hochschule'' (, plural: ''Technische Hochschulen'', abbreviated ''TH'') is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands (), and Finland (, ). ...
in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Austria, then to the Technische Hochschule in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
, Germany. (A Technische Hochschule at that time was a technical college offering advanced professional training in selected fields, rather than an institution also engaged in basic research as a university.)
Oberth moved to
Peenemünde
Peenemünde (, en, "Peene iverMouth") is a municipality on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is part of the ''Amt'' (collective municipality) of Usedom-Nord. The communi ...
, Germany, in 1941 to work on the ''
Aggregat
The Aggregat series (German for "Aggregate") was a set of ballistic missile designs developed in 1933–1945 by a research program of Nazi Germany's Armed Forces (Wehrmacht). Its greatest success was the A4, more commonly known as the V-2.
...
'' rocket program. Around September 1943, he was awarded the ''
Kriegsverdienstkreuz I Klasse mit Schwertern'' (War Merit Cross 1st Class, with Swords) for his "outstanding, courageous behavior ... during the attack" on Peenemünde by
Operation Hydra, part of
Allied operations against the German rocket programme.
Later he worked on solid-propellant anti-aircraft rockets at the German WASAG military organization near
Wittenberg
Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...
. Around the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in Europe, the Oberth family moved to the town of Feucht, near the regional capital of
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
, which became part of the
American Zone
Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Franc ...
of occupied Germany, and also the location of the high-level
war-crimes trials of the surviving Nazi leaders. Oberth was allowed to leave Nuremberg to move to Switzerland in 1948, where he worked as an independent consultant and a writer.
In 1950, Oberth moved on to Italy, where he completed some of the work that he had begun at the WASAG organization for the new
Italian Navy
"Fatherland and Honour"
, patron =
, colors =
, colors_label =
, march = ( is the return of soldiers to their barrack, or sailors to their ship after a ...
. In 1953, Oberth returned to Feucht, Germany, to publish his book ''Menschen im Weltraum'' (''Mankind into Space''), in which he described his ideas for space-based
reflecting telescope
A reflecting telescope (also called a reflector) is a telescope that uses a single or a combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century by Isaac Newton as an alternati ...
s,
space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...
s, electric-powered
spaceships, and
space suit
A space suit or spacesuit is a garment worn to keep a human alive in the harsh environment of outer space, vacuum and temperature extremes. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, ...
s.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Oberth offered his opinions regarding
unidentified flying object
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
s (UFOs). He was a supporter of the
extraterrestrial hypothesis
The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) proposes that some unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are best explained as being physical spacecraft occupied by extraterrestrial life or non-human aliens, or non-occupied alien probes from other planets vi ...
for the origin of the UFOs that were seen from Earth. For example, in an article in ''The American Weekly'' magazine of 24 October 1954, Oberth stated, "It is my thesis that flying saucers are real, and that they are space ships from another solar system. I think that they possibly are manned by intelligent observers who are members of a race that may have been investigating our earth for centuries..." He also wrote an article in the second edition of ''Flying Saucer Review'' titled "They Come From Outer Space". He discussed the history of reports of "strange luminous objects" in the sky, mentioning that the earliest historical case is of "Shining Shields" reported by
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
. He wrote, "Having weighed all the pros and cons, I find the explanation of flying discs from outer space the most likely one. I call this the "Uraniden" hypothesis, because from our viewpoint the hypothetical beings appear to come from the sky (Greek – 'Uranos')."
Oberth eventually came to work for his former student, Wernher von Braun, who was developing space rockets for
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
in
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...
. (''See also
List of German rocket scientists in the United States
The following lists contain names of engineers, scientists and technicians specializing in rocketry who originally came from Germany but spent most of their careers working for the NASA space program in Huntsville, Alabama.
Particularly after Worl ...
''.) Among other things, Oberth was involved in writing the study, ''The Development of Space Technology in the Next Ten Years''. In 1958, Oberth was back in Feucht, Germany, where he published his ideas on a lunar exploration vehicle, a "lunar catapult", and on "muffled" helicopters and airplanes. In 1960, back in the United States again, Oberth went to work for the
Convair Corporation as a technical consultant on the
Atlas rocket
Atlas is a family of US missiles and space launch vehicles that originated with the SM-65 Atlas. The Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program was initiated in the late 1950s under the Convair Division of General Dynamics. Atlas was ...
program.
Later life
Oberth retired in 1962 at the age of 68. From 1964 to 1967 he was a member of the
National Democratic Party of Germany
The National Democratic Party of Germany (german: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands or NPD) is a far-right Neo-Nazi and ultranationalist political party in Germany.
The party was founded in 1964 as successor to the German Reich Part ...
, which was considered to be
far right. In July 1969, Oberth returned to the United States to witness the launch of the
Apollo project Saturn V
Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, with multistage rocket, three stages, and powered with liquid-propellant r ...
rocket from the
Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...
in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
that carried the
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, an ...
crew on the first landing mission to the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
.
["Hermann Oberth"](_blank)
, at the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission
The
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
inspired Oberth to look into alternative energy sources, including a plan for a
wind power station that could utilize the
jet stream
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow, meandering thermal wind, air currents in the Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. On Earth, the main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause and are west ...
. However, his primary interest during his retirement years was to turn to more abstract philosophical questions. Most notable among his several books from this period is ''Primer For Those Who Would Govern''.
Oberth returned to the United States to view the launch of
STS-61-A, the Space Shuttle
''Challenger'' launched 30 October 1985.
Oberth died in Nuremberg, West Germany, on 28 December 1989, just shortly after
the fall of the Iron Curtain.
According to an obituary by Stille Hilfe
Die Stille Hilfe für Kriegsgefangene und Internierte (English: "Silent assistance for prisoners of war and interned persons"), abbreviated ''Stille Hilfe'', is a relief organization for arrested, condemned and fugitive SS members, similar to the ...
, Oberth was "a loyal supporter and donor" of this Nazi support organization.
Legacy
Hermann Oberth is memorialized by the Hermann Oberth Space Travel Museum
The Hermann Oberth Space Travel Museum (Hermann-Oberth-Raumfahrt-Museum, or Hermann-Oberth-Museum for short) is a museum of space technology in the Franconian city of Feucht in Bavaria, Germany.
It commemorates the life work of the famous visio ...
in Feucht
Feucht is a market town and municipality southeast of Nuremberg in the district of Nürnberger Land in Bavaria, Germany. The name Feucht () is derived from the Old High German noun "viuhtje" - "fichta", which is the spruce tree (vernacularly Féic ...
, Germany, and by the Hermann Oberth Society. The museum brings together scientists, researchers, engineers, and astronauts from the East and the West to carry on his work in rocketry and space exploration.
He discovered the Oberth effect
In astronautics, a powered flyby, or Oberth maneuver, is a maneuver in which a spacecraft falls into a gravitational well and then uses its engines to further accelerate as it is falling, thereby achieving additional speed. The resulting maneuver ...
, in which a rocket engine when traveling at high speed generates more useful energy than one travelling at low speed.
In 1980, Oberth was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame
The International Air & Space Hall of Fame is an honor roll of people, groups, organizations, or things that have contributed significantly to the advancement of aerospace flight and technology, sponsored by the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Sin ...
at the San Diego Air & Space Museum
San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM, formerly the San Diego Aerospace Museum) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California, United States. The museum is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, ...
.
There is also a crater on the Moon and asteroid 9253 Oberth named after him.
The Danish Astronautical Society The Danish Astronautical Society was inaugurated on 20 September 1949, and its prime focus is spreading knowledge and information about spaceflight and space science. The Danish Astronautical Society participated in founding the International Astro ...
has named Hermann Oberth an honorary member.
The Faculty of Engineering of Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu
Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed superstitio ...
is named after him.
In '' Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'', the USS ''Grissom'' was classified as an ''Oberth''-class starship. Several other ''Oberth''-class starships also appeared in subsequent ''Star Trek'' films and television series.
Books
* ''Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen'' (1923) (''By Rocket into Planetary Space'') (in German)
''Ways to Spaceflight''
(1929)
* ''The Moon Car'' (1959)
* ''The Electric Spaceship'' (1960)
* ''Primer for Those Who Would Govern'' (1987)
* Georgiy Stepanovich Vetrov, ''S. P. Korolyov and space. First steps. — 1994 M. Nauka, .
* S. P. Korolev. Encyclopedia of life and creativity" – edited by C. A. Lopota, RSC Energia. S. P. Korolev, 2014
See also
* Robert H. Goddard
Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945) was an American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first Liquid-propellant rocket, liquid-fueled rocket. ...
* Conrad Haas
Conrad Haas (1509–1576) was an Austrian or Transylvanian Saxon military engineer.
He was a pioneer of rocket propulsion. His designs include a three-stage rocket and a manned rocket.
Haas was perhaps born in Dornbach (now part of Hernal ...
* High altitude wind power
Airborne wind energy (AWE) is the direct use or generation of wind energy by the use of aerodynamic or aerostatic lift devices. AWE technology is able to harvest high altitude winds, in contrast to wind turbines, which use a rotor mounted on a to ...
* Outer space
Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...
* Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (russian: Константи́н Эдуа́рдович Циолко́вский , , p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj , a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) ...
* Gernot M. R. Winkler
Gernot Maria Rudolph Winkler (October 17, 1922 – April 30, 2016) was responsible for the Time Service Department of the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) from 1966 to 1996.
Winkler oversaw the introduction of caesium beam-based Coordinat ...
* List of German inventors and discoverers
----
__NOTOC__
This is a list of German inventors and discoverers. The following list comprises people from Germany or German-speaking Europe, and also people of predominantly German heritage, in alphabetical order of the surname.
For the li ...
* List of Romanian inventors and discoverers
References
External links
The Hermann Oberth Space Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberth, Hermann
1894 births
1989 deaths
20th-century German engineers
People from Sibiu
Transylvanian-Saxon people
People from the Kingdom of Hungary
Early rocketry
Early spaceflight scientists
German expatriates in the United States
20th-century German physicists
20th-century Hungarian physicists
German essayists
German Lutherans
German people of World War II
German Army personnel of World War I
Members of the Romanian Academy elected posthumously
Babeș-Bolyai University alumni
Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Research and development in Nazi Germany
Rocket science pioneers
German male essayists
20th-century essayists
20th-century German male writers
20th-century Lutherans
Austro-Hungarian emigrants to Germany