Hermann Oberth
Encyclopedia
Hermann Julius Oberth was an Austro-Hungarian
-born German
physicist
and engineer
. He is considered one of the founding fathers of rocket
ry and astronautics
.
family in Nagyszeben (German: Hermannstadt, today Sibiu
, Romania
), Austria-Hungary
. By his own account and that of many others, around the age of 11 years old, Oberth became fascinated with the field in which he was to make his mark through reading the writings of Jules Verne
, especially From the Earth to the Moon
and Around the Moon
, re-reading them to the point of memorization. Influenced by Verne's books and ideas, Oberth constructed his first model rocket
as a school student at the age of 14. In his youthful experiments, he arrived independently at the concept of the multistage rocket
, but he lacked then the resources to pursue his idea on any but a pencil-and-paper level.
In 1912, Oberth began the study of medicine in Munich
, Germany
, but at the outbreak of World War I
, he was drafted into the Imperial German
Army, assigned to an infantry battalion, and sent to the Eastern Front
against Russia
. In 1915, Oberth was moved into a medical unit at a hospital in Segesvár, Transylvania, in Austria-Hungary
(today Sighişoara
, Romania
). There he found the spare time to conduct a series of experiments concerning weightlessness
, and later resumed his rocketry designs. By 1917, he showed how far his studies had reached so far by firing a rocket with liquid propellant in a demonstration to Hermann von Stein
, the Prussian Minister of War
.
On July 6, 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
, and a daughter who also died during the war when there was an accidental explosion at a liquid oxygen
plant where she was in August 1944. In 1919, Oberth once again moved to Germany, this time to study physics, initially in Munich and later in Göttingen
.
In 1922, Oberth's proposed doctoral dissertation on rocket science was rejected as "utopian". He next had his 92-page work published privately in June 1923 as the somewhat controversial book, Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen ("By 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." 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." Hermann Oberth was finally awarded his doctorate in physics with the same rocketry paper that he had written before, by the University, Cluj
, Romania
, under professor Augustin Maior, on May 23, 1923.
Oberth became a member of the Verein für Raumschiffahrt
(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. 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
that started in 1929. Therefore, from 1924 through 1938, Oberth supported himself and his family by teaching physics
and mathematics
at the Stephan Ludwig Roth
High School in Mediaş
, Romania
.
("The Woman in the Moon"), which was directed and produced by the great film pioneer Fritz Lang
at the Universum Film AG
company. This film was of enormous value in popularizing the ideas of rocket
ry and space exploration
. 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
", the main rocket portrayed in the film.
On June 5, 1929, Oberth won the first (Robert Esnault-Pelterie - André-Louis Hirsch) "Rep-Hirsch Prize" of the French Astronomical Society 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.
In the autumn of 1929, Oberth conducted a static firing of his first liquid-fueled rocket motor, which he named the Kegeldüse. The engine was built by Klaus Riedel 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
rockets that made it possible for men 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
, Romania
, for good, to first to settle in Austria
, then in Nazi Germany
, then in the United States
, and finally back to a free Germany. Oberth himself moved on first to the Technische Hochschule
in Vienna, Austria, then the Technische Hochschule in Dresden, Germany. (A Hochschule is rather like a four-year technical institute, above a high school, but not as highly-regarded, or offering as many years of study as a university does.) Oberth moved to Peenemünde
, Germany, in 1941 to work on Nazi German rocketry projects, including the V-2 rocket
weapon, and in about 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 Operation Crossbow
.
Oberth later worked on solid-propellant anti-aircraft rockets at the German WASAG military organization near Wittenberg
. Around the end of World War II
in Europe in May 1945, the Oberth family moved to the town of Feucht, near Nuremberg, Germany, which became part of the American Zone of occupied Germany, and also the location of the high-level war-crimes trials of the surviving Nazi leaders. Oberth was allowed to leave Nurmberg to move to Switzerland
in 1948, where he worked as an independent rocketry 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
. In 1953, Oberth returned to Feucht, Germany, to publish his book Menschen im Weltraum (Men in Space), in which he described his ideas for space-based reflecting telescope
s, space station
s, electric-powered spaceship
s, and space suit
s.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Oberth offered his opinions regarding unidentified flying object
s (UFOs). He was a supporter of the extraterrestrial hypothesis
for the origin of the UFOs that were seen at the Earth. For example, in an article in The American Weekly magazine of October 24, 1954, Obert 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..."
Oberth eventually came to work for his former student, Wernher von Braun, who was developing space rockets for NASA
in Huntsville, Alabama
. (See also List of German rocket scientists in the United States). 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 program.
National Democratic Party
. In July 1969, Oberth returned to the United States to witness the launch of the Apollo project Saturn V
rocket from the Kennedy Space Center
in Florida
that carried the Apollo 11
crew on the first landing mission to the Moon
.
The 1973 petroleum crisis
inspired Oberth to look into alternative energy sources, including a plan for a wind power station
that could utilize the jet stream
. 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 51J, the space shuttle Atlantis launched October 3, 1985.
Oberth died in Nuremberg, Germany, on 28 December 1989, just shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain
that had for so long divided Germany into two countries.
in Feucht, 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.
The Oberth effect
, in which a rocket engine when traveling at high speed generates more useful energy than one at traveling at low speed, is named after him.
There is also a crater on the Moon (see Oberth (crater)
) and an asteroid ( see 9253 Oberth
) named after him.
The science-fiction movie Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
mentions the Oberth-class of starship
s hypothetically to be in his honor. Later on, this same class of starships is mentioned in several episodes of the American TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation
.
Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa
features Hermann Oberth as the "teacher" of the movie's protagonist, Edward Elric
. Oberth is also mentioned in the last episode of the TV series Fullmetal Alchemist
. In this episode, Elric has heard of a great scientist, named "Oberth", with curious theories (The english dub explicitly states his name and research into rocketry). The last moments of the series depict Elric on board a train on his way to meet Oberth, determined to study rocketry with him.
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
-born German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
and engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
. He is considered one of the founding fathers of rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
ry and astronautics
Astronautics
Astronautics, and related astronautical engineering, is the theory and practice of navigation beyond the Earth's atmosphere. In other words, it is the science and technology of space flight....
.
Early life
Oberth was born to a Transylvanian SaxonTransylvanian Saxons
The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...
family in Nagyszeben (German: Hermannstadt, today Sibiu
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
), Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. By his own account and that of many others, around the age of 11 years old, Oberth became fascinated with the field in which he was to make his mark through reading the writings of Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
, especially From the Earth to the Moon
From the Earth to the Moon
From the Earth to the Moon is a humorous science fantasy novel by Jules Verne and is one of the earliest entries in that genre. It tells the story of the president of a post-American Civil War gun club in Baltimore, his rival, a Philadelphia maker of armor, and a Frenchman, who build an enormous...
and Around the Moon
Around the Moon
Around the Moon , Jules Verne's sequel to From the Earth to the Moon, is a science fiction novel continuing the trip to the moon which left the reader in suspense after the previous novel...
, re-reading them to the point of memorization. Influenced by Verne's books and ideas, Oberth constructed his first model rocket
Model rocket
A model rocket is a small rocket that is commonly advertised as being able to be launched by anybody, to, in general, low altitudes and recovered by a variety of means....
as a school student at the age of 14. In his youthful experiments, he arrived independently at the concept of the multistage rocket
Multistage rocket
A multistage rocket is a rocket that usestwo or more 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 is attached alongside another stage. The result is effectively two or more rockets stacked on top of or...
, but he lacked then the resources to pursue his idea on any but a pencil-and-paper level.
In 1912, Oberth began the study of medicine in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, but at the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he was drafted into the Imperial German
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
Army, assigned to an infantry battalion, and sent to the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War I)
The Eastern Front was a theatre of war during World War I in Central and, primarily, Eastern Europe. The term is in contrast to the Western Front. Despite the geographical separation, the events in the two theatres strongly influenced each other...
against Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. In 1915, Oberth was moved into a medical unit at a hospital in Segesvár, Transylvania, in Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
(today Sighişoara
Sighisoara
Sighişoara is a city and municipality on the Târnava Mare River in Mureş County, Romania. Located in the historic region Transylvania, Sighişoara has a population of 27,706 ....
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
). There he found the spare time to conduct a series of experiments concerning weightlessness
Weightlessness
Weightlessness is the condition that exists for an object or person when they experience little or no acceleration except the acceleration that defines their inertial trajectory, or the trajectory of pure free-fall...
, and later resumed his rocketry designs. By 1917, he showed how far his studies had reached so far by firing a rocket with liquid propellant in a demonstration to Hermann von Stein
Hermann von Stein
Hermann von Stein may refer to:*Hermann Christlieb Matthäus Stein, from 1913 von Stein, , Prussian general of artillery and minister of war...
, the Prussian Minister of War
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 Treaty of Paris. The War Ministry was to help bring the army under constitutional control, and, along with the...
.
On July 6, 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
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and a daughter who also died during the war when there was an accidental explosion at a liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...
plant where she was in August 1944. In 1919, Oberth once again moved to Germany, this time to study physics, initially in Munich and later in Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
.
In 1922, Oberth's proposed doctoral dissertation on rocket science was rejected as "utopian". He next had his 92-page work published privately in June 1923 as the somewhat controversial book, Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen ("By 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." Oberth criticized the German system of education
Education in Germany
The responsibility for the German education system lies primarily with the states while the federal government plays only a minor role. Optional Kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years of age, after which school attendance is compulsory, in most cases for...
, saying "Our educational system is like an automobile which has strong rear lights, brightly illuminating the past. But looking forward, things are barely discernible." Hermann Oberth was finally awarded his doctorate in physics with the same rocketry paper that he had written before, by the University, Cluj
Cluj
Cluj may refer to*Cluj-Napoca, county seat of Cluj County, named Cluj until 1974*Cluj County, Romania*Cluj-Napoca International Airport*U Cluj, a Romanian sports club*U Cluj, a Romanian football club*CFR Cluj, a Romanian football club...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, under professor Augustin Maior, on May 23, 1923.
Oberth became a member of the Verein für Raumschiffahrt
Verein für Raumschiffahrt
The Verein für Raumschiffahrt was a German amateur rocket association prior to World War II that included members outside of Germany...
(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. 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
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
that started in 1929. Therefore, from 1924 through 1938, Oberth supported himself and his family by teaching physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
at the Stephan Ludwig Roth
Stephan Ludwig Roth
Stephan Ludwig Roth was a Transylvanian Saxon intellectual, pedagogue and Lutheran pastor....
High School in Mediaş
Medias
Mediaș is the second largest city in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania.-Geographic location:Mediaș is located in the middle basin of Târnava Mare River, at 39 km from Sighișoara and 41 km from Blaj. The health resort Bazna, officially recognized for the first time in 1302, is...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
.
Rocketry and space flight
In parts of 1928 and 1929, Oberth also worked in Berlin, Germany as a scientific consultant on the first film ever to have scenes set in outer space, Frau im MondFrau im Mond
Woman in the Moon is a science fiction silent film that premiered October 15, 1929. It is often considered to be one of the first "serious" science fiction films...
("The Woman in the Moon"), which was directed and produced by the great film pioneer Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
at the Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
company. This film was of enormous value in popularizing the ideas of rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
ry and space exploration
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
. 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
Friede 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 stages, liquid fuel, etc...
", the main rocket portrayed in the film.
On June 5, 1929, Oberth won the first (Robert Esnault-Pelterie - André-Louis Hirsch) "Rep-Hirsch Prize" of the French Astronomical Society 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.
In the autumn of 1929, Oberth conducted a static firing of his first liquid-fueled rocket motor, which he named the Kegeldüse. The engine was built by Klaus Riedel 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
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...
, 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
The Saturn V was an American human-rated expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. A multistage liquid-fueled launch vehicle, NASA launched 13 Saturn Vs from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida with no loss of crew or payload...
rockets that made it possible for men 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
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, for good, to first to settle in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, then in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, then in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and finally back to a free Germany. Oberth himself moved on first to the Technische Hochschule
Vienna University of Technology
Vienna University of Technology is one of the major universities in Vienna, the capital of Austria. Founded in 1815 as the "Imperial-Royal Polytechnic Institute" , it currently has about 26,200 students , 8 faculties and about 4,000 staff members...
in Vienna, Austria, then the Technische Hochschule in Dresden, Germany. (A Hochschule is rather like a four-year technical institute, above a high school, but not as highly-regarded, or offering as many years of study as a university does.) Oberth moved to Peenemünde
Peenemünde
The Peenemünde Army Research Center was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the Army Weapons Office ....
, Germany, in 1941 to work on Nazi German rocketry projects, including the V-2 rocket
V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
weapon, and in about September 1943, he was awarded the Kriegsverdienstkreuz I Klasse mit Schwertern
War Merit Cross
The War Merit Cross was a decoration of Nazi Germany during the Second World War, which could be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel...
(War Merit Cross 1st Class, with Swords) for his "outstanding, courageous behavior ... during the attack" on Peenemünde by Operation Hydra
Bombing of Peenemünde in World War II
Operation Hydra was a Royal Air Force attack on the Peenemünde Army Research Center on the night of 17/18 August 1943. It began the Operation Crossbow strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany's V-weapon programme...
, part of Operation Crossbow
Operation Crossbow
Crossbow was the code name of the World War II campaign of Anglo-American "operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme—operations against research and development of the weapons, their manufacture, transportation and their launching sites, and against missiles in flight"...
.
Oberth later worked on solid-propellant anti-aircraft rockets at the German WASAG military organization near Wittenberg
Wittenberg
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....
. Around the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in Europe in May 1945, the Oberth family moved to the town of Feucht, near Nuremberg, Germany, which became part of the American Zone of occupied Germany, and also the location of the high-level war-crimes trials of the surviving Nazi leaders. Oberth was allowed to leave Nurmberg to move to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
in 1948, where he worked as an independent rocketry consultant and a writer.
In 1950, Oberth moved on to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, where he completed some of the work that he had begun at the WASAG organization for the new Italian Navy
Marina Militare
The Italian Navy is the navy of the Italian Republic. It is one of the four branches of military forces of Italy; formed in 1946, from what remained of the Regia Marina . As of 2008, the Italian Navy had 35,200 active personnel with 180 commissioned ships, 19 Floating Docks, and 123 aircraft...
. In 1953, Oberth returned to Feucht, Germany, to publish his book Menschen im Weltraum (Men in Space), in which he described his ideas for space-based reflecting telescope
Reflecting telescope
A reflecting telescope is an optical telescope which uses a single or combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century as an alternative to the refracting telescope which, at that time, was a design that suffered from...
s, space station
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
s, electric-powered spaceship
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
s, and space suit
Space suit
A space suit is a garment worn to keep an astronaut alive in the harsh environment of outer space. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, and are necessary for extra-vehicular activity , work done outside spacecraft...
s.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Oberth offered his opinions regarding unidentified flying object
Unidentified flying object
A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...
s (UFOs). He was a supporter of the extraterrestrial hypothesis
Extraterrestrial hypothesis
The extraterrestrial hypothesis is the hypothesis that some unidentified flying objects are best explained as being extraterrestrial life or non-human aliens from other planets occupying physical spacecraft visiting Earth.-Etymology:...
for the origin of the UFOs that were seen at the Earth. For example, in an article in The American Weekly magazine of October 24, 1954, Obert 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..."
Oberth eventually came to work for his former student, Wernher von Braun, who was developing space rockets for NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
in Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....
. (See also List of German rocket scientists in the United States). 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
Convair
Convair was an American aircraft manufacturing company which later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Vultee Aircraft and Consolidated Aircraft, and went on to produce a number of pioneering aircraft, such as the Convair B-36 bomber, and the F-102...
as a technical consultant on the Atlas rocket program.
Later life
Oberth retired in 1962 at the age of 68. From 1965 to 1967 he was a member of the considered to be far rightFar right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
National Democratic Party
National Democratic Party of Germany
The National Democratic Party of Germany – The People's Union , is a far right German nationalist party. It was founded in 1964 a successor to the German Reich Party . Party statements self-identify as Germany's "only significant patriotic force"...
. In July 1969, Oberth returned to the United States to witness the launch of the Apollo project Saturn V
Saturn V
The Saturn V was an American human-rated expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. A multistage liquid-fueled launch vehicle, NASA launched 13 Saturn Vs from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida with no loss of crew or payload...
rocket from the Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center is the NASA installation that has been the launch site for every United States human space flight since 1968. Although such flights are currently on hiatus, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for America's civilian space program...
in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
that carried the Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
crew on the first landing mission to the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
.
The 1973 petroleum crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
inspired Oberth to look into alternative energy sources, including a plan for a wind power station
Wind power
Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships....
that could utilize the jet stream
Jet stream
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. The main jet streams are located near the tropopause, the transition between the troposphere and the stratosphere . The major jet streams on Earth are westerly winds...
. 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 51J, the space shuttle Atlantis launched October 3, 1985.
Oberth died in Nuremberg, Germany, on 28 December 1989, just shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
that had for so long divided Germany into two countries.
Legacy
Hermann Oberth is memorialized by the Hermann Oberth Space Travel MuseumHermann Oberth Space Travel Museum
The Hermann Oberth Space Travel Museum is a museum of space technology in the Franconian city of Feucht in Bavaria, Germany....
in Feucht, 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.
The Oberth effect
Oberth effect
In astronautics, the Oberth effect is where the use of a rocket engine when travelling at high speed generates much more useful energy than one at low speed...
, in which a rocket engine when traveling at high speed generates more useful energy than one at traveling at low speed, is named after him.
There is also a crater on the Moon (see Oberth (crater)
Oberth (crater)
Oberth is a crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies in the high northern latitudes, to the southeast of the crater Gamow. To the east of Oberth is Avogadro....
) and an asteroid ( see 9253 Oberth
9253 Oberth
9253 Oberth is a main-belt asteroid discovered on 1971 Mar. 25 by C. J. van Houten and I. van Houten-Groeneveld on Palomar Schmidt plates taken by T. Gehrels.- External links :*...
) named after him.
The science-fiction movie Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is a 1984 motion picture released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the third feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise and is the center of a three-film story arc that begins with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and concludes with Star Trek IV:...
mentions the Oberth-class of starship
Starship
A starship or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for traveling between the stars, as opposed to a vehicle designed for orbital spaceflight or interplanetary travel....
s hypothetically to be in his honor. Later on, this same class of starships is mentioned in several episodes of the American TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
.
Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa
Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa
is a 2005 Japanese animated film directed by Seiji Mizushima and written by Sho Aikawa, and acts as a continuation of the first Fullmetal Alchemist television series...
features Hermann Oberth as the "teacher" of the movie's protagonist, Edward Elric
Edward Elric
, commonly nicknamed , is a fictional character and the main character of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime and manga series created by Hiromu Arakawa. Edward, titled , is the youngest State Alchemist in the history of the fictional country of Amestris...
. Oberth is also mentioned in the last episode of the TV series Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist
, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. The world of Fullmetal Alchemist is styled after the European Industrial Revolution...
. In this episode, Elric has heard of a great scientist, named "Oberth", with curious theories (The english dub explicitly states his name and research into rocketry). The last moments of the series depict Elric on board a train on his way to meet Oberth, determined to study rocketry with him.
See also
- Outer spaceOuter spaceOuter space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
- List of German inventors and discoverers
- High altitude wind powerHigh altitude wind powerHigh-altitude wind power has been imagined as a source of useful energy since 1833 with John Etzler's vision of capturing the power of winds high in the sky by use of tether and cable technology...
Books
- Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (1929) (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) ISBN 0-914301-06-3