Irene Reinhild Agnes Elisabeth Sänger-Bredt (24 April 1911 – 20 October 1983) was a German engineer, mathematician and physicist. She is co-credited with the design of a proposed intercontinental spaceplane/bomber prior to and during

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 opposing ...

Life and career

Irene Bredt received her doctorate in natural science in 1936. Her thesis was entitled ''X-rays from Rare Earths''. For her first job she was attracted by a tender with few details of the little-known Research Center for Aviation at Trauen, Germany. Bredt began her research work as an assistant of Eugen Sänger at this rocket research centre. Her field of activities became thermodynamic and gas kinetics problems related to liquid-propelled rockets. She became the head of the Physics Department there in 1941 and the following year became a First Assistant at the German Research Institute for Gliding Flight at Ainring. Her task was the maintenance and analysis of

ramjet A ramjet, or athodyd (aero thermodynamic duct), is a form of airbreathing jet engine that uses the forward motion of the engine to produce thrust. Since it produces no thrust when stationary (no ram air) ramjet-powered vehicles require an as ...

test flights. In 1945, Bredt moved to Paris and worked there as a researcher in the same area as before but now for the

Arsenal de l'Aéronautique Arsenal de l'Aéronautique (commonly named Arsenal) was a national military aircraft manufacturer established by the French Government in 1936 at Villacoublay. In the years before World War II, it developed a range of technically advanced fighter ...

, later known as

SNECMA Safran Aircraft Engines, previously Snecma (''Société nationale d'études et de construction de moteurs d'aviation'') or Snecma Moteurs, is a French aerospace engine manufacturer headquartered in Courcouronnes and a subsidiary of Safran. It ...

. At the same time she acted as consultant to

MATRA Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and w ...

in Paris Billancourt as well as the Institute of Technology in Madras, South India. In 1954, after her marriage to

Eugen Sänger Eugen Sänger (22 September 1905 – 10 February 1964) was an Austrian aerospace engineer best known for his contributions to lifting body and ramjet technology. Early career Sänger was born in the former mining town of Preßnitz (Přísečni ...

and the birth of their son, Sänger-Bredt returned to Germany. She became deputy scientific director of the Research Institute for the Physics of Jet Propulsion, which had been founded by Eugen Sänger in Stuttgart. In 1960, Sänger-Bredt became one of the founder members — the only woman — of the

International Academy of Astronautics The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is an independent non-governmental organization established in Stockholm (Sweden) on August 16, 1960, by Dr. Theodore von Kármán, and recognized by the United Nations in 1996. The IAA has electe ...

. From 1963, she acted as a consultant engineer on space matters for the companies Junkers and Bölkow (later Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm GmbH). Irene Sänger-Bredt died in 1983 in Stuttgart, Germany, by which time she had published 88 papers on topics relating to natural science and the science of culture.

Honors

In 1970 Bredt was honored by the German Rocket Society with the Hermann Oberth Gold Medal, for her impressive scientific accomplishments.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanger-Bredt, Irene 1911 births 1983 deaths Research and development in Nazi Germany German rocket scientists Engineers from North Rhine-Westphalia Scientists from Bonn 20th-century German women scientists