Hermann Ganswindt (12 June 1856, Voigtshof bei Seeburg,

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

– 25 October 1934) was a German

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

and

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in or ...

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

, whose inventions (such as the

dirigible An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

, the

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

, and the

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...

) are thought to have been ahead of his time. Schriftzug Hermann-Ganswindt-Brücke in Berlin-Schöneberg

He was born in Voigtshof near Seeburg,

. During his youth, he showed an interest in technology. As a student he developed a

freewheel Freewheel mechanism In mechanical or automotive engineering, a freewheel or overrunning clutch is a device in a transmission that disengages the driveshaft from the driven shaft when the driven shaft rotates faster than the driveshaft. An ov ...

for bicycles, which he later produced in Berlin-Schöneberg. Following a suggestion by his parents he attended law school at the universities of Zurich and Leipzig. After completion of his military service he enrolled at the University of Berlin. However, he was exmatriculated for not undertaking his studies. After 1880 he developed concepts for a space vehicle based on the principle of repulsion. His two-stage vehicle was designed to be driven by a series of

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

explosions. Since it was to be taken aloft by way of a carrier vehicle, he designed a

as early as 1884. On 27 May 1891, he gave a public speech at the Berlin Philharmony in which he introduced his concept of a galactic vehicle (''Weltenfahrzeug''). In July 1901 the maiden flight of his helicopter took place in Berlin-Schöneberg, which probably was the first

heavier-than-air An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...

motor-driven flight carrying humans. A movie covering the event was taken by

Max Skladanowsky Max Skladanowsky (30 April 1863 – 30 November 1939) was a German inventor and early filmmaker. Along with his brother Emil, he invented the Bioscop, an early movie projector the Skladanowsky brothers used to display a moving picture show to a p ...

, but it remains lost. In 1902, Ganswindt was accused of fraud and arrested because he had added a safety bar to his vehicle to prevent it from rolling. After spending eight weeks in pre-trial custody he was released after a flight demonstration proved his innocence. Nevertheless, his business was ruined. He died 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 ...

in 1934.

Legacy

Ganswindt's work is considered to be ahead of his time by several decades since his contemporary fellows had been unable to recognize the impact of his ideas. During his late years he kept in touch with Austrian rocket pioneer

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 ...

as well as with German rocket pioneer

Hermann Oberth Hermann Julius Oberth (; 25 June 1894 – 28 December 1989) was an Austro-Hungarian-born German physicist and engineer. He is considered one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics, along with Robert Esnault-Pelterie, Konstantin Ts ...

, who shared his knowledge of

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-propellant rocket, liquid-fueled rocket. ...

's work with him. In 1975, the city of

recognized his achievements by naming a bridge (''Hermann-Ganswindt-Brücke'') in Berlin-Schöneberg. The

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...

(IAU) named the lunar crater Ganswindt in his honor. His enthusiasm towards space travel was shared by one of his sons, who worked for

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 ...

's moon program. His daughter Isolde Hausser became a physicist.

Literature

* H. Ganswindt: ''Die Lenkbarkeit des aerostatischen Luftschiffes : gemeinfaßlich mit ausführlichen Berechnungen und Zeichnungen dargestellt''; Berlin : Gsellius, 1884 * H. Ganswindt: ''Das jüngste Gericht ; Erfindungen von Hermann Ganswindt''; 2nd edition, with illustrations and expertise. Schöneberg b. Berlin: Selbstverl., 1899 * Daniel Brandau: 'Cultivating the Cosmos: Spaceflight Thought in Imperial Germany', in: History and Technology 28, no.3 (2012), pp. 225-54.

References

External links

The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganswindt, Hermann 1856 births 1934 deaths People from Olsztyn County People from the Province of Prussia German aerospace engineers German spaceflight pioneers Early spaceflight scientists Early rocketry Engineers from Berlin

Legacy

See also

Literature

References

External links