Hermann Oberth

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Hermann Oberth with the Federal Cross of Merit , 1961
Relief , Tegel Airport in Berlin-Tegel

Hermann Julius Oberth (born June 25, 1894 in Hermannstadt , Transylvania , Austria-Hungary , † December 28, 1989 in Nuremberg ) was an Austro-Hungarian-German physicist and rocket pioneer . He is considered one of the founders of scientific rocketry and astronautics as well as prophetic initiator of the aerospace and space medicine . Both Oberth effects are named after him.

Life

Hermann Oberth came from a family Transylvanian Saxons . Even as a teenager, he was an avid reader of Jules Verne's futuristic novels , which his mother had given him, and Oberth began to deal with problems related to rocket and space travel while still at high school. Through physical-mathematical considerations, he was able to prove that a "trip to the moon" with a cannon like the one used by Jules Verne, through which the travelers to the moon would be shot to the moon, cannot be possible, since the travelers cannot survive the enormous pressure when they are shot would. Instead, Oberth soon came to the conclusion that such a trip could only be achieved with a rocket. (A rocket is described in another Jules Verne novel.)

Since his father, Julius Oberth, had a doctorate, Hermann Oberth's interest in medical problems was aroused early on. In his memoirs, Oberth describes how, as a high school student in the public baths in Schäßburg , where he had lived with his parents since he was two, he jumped off the springboard to get close to the feeling of weightlessness .

Study of medicine and physics

Following his matriculation examination in 1912, he began studying medicine in Munich at the request of his father, who was a surgeon , and he also attended lectures at the Technical University. From 1914 he took part in the First World War. After being wounded on the Eastern Front, he was employed as a medical sergeant in the hospital in Schäßburg. In 1918 he married Mathilde Hummel, with whom he subsequently had four children. In the autumn of 1918 he continued his medical studies at the University of Budapest . After a serious illness, Oberth found that medicine did not correspond to his actual interests. Therefore, in 1919 he began studying physics at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca , Romania , which he continued in Munich, Göttingen and Heidelberg . In 1922 his Heidelberg dissertation The Rocket on Planetary Spaces , in which he dealt with space travel, was rejected because there was no recognized expert on the subject. So he submitted his manuscript as a diploma thesis in Cluj and passed the state examination in 1923. In the same year the Munich science publisher Oldenbourg published the manuscript. Oberth had to pay for the printing costs himself, but his first work was a success. From 1923 to 1938 Oberth worked intermittently as a high school teacher in his home town of Transylvania in Romania.

Technical drafts

In 1917 he designed a rocket powered by ethanol and oxygen . In his 1923 book The Rocket for Planetary Spaces , which is a compilation of the fundamentals and theories on rocket technology and space travel that he had worked on to date, Oberth describes almost all the essential elements for building large and multi-stage rockets powered by liquid fuel .

His most famous works were The Rocket to Planet Space ( 1923) and Paths to Space Travel (1929). In it he also presented the ion engine he had invented . In The Rocket to Planetary Spaces , he put forward the following theses:

  • Premise 1: Given the current state of science and technology, the construction of machines that can rise higher than the earth's atmosphere is likely to be.
  • Premise 2: With further perfection these machines can reach such speeds that they do not have to fall back on the surface of the earth and are even able to leave the area of ​​attraction of the earth.
  • Premise 3: Such machines can be built in such a way that people (probably without any health problems) can go up with them.
  • Premise 4: Under certain economic conditions, building such machines can be worthwhile. Such conditions can occur in a few decades.

With the launch of Sputnik (1957) and Yuri Gagarin's flight into space (1961), these ideas, which were still completely utopian at the beginning of the 1920s, were turned into reality less than four decades later.

Groundwork

Oberth was a member of the Association for Space Travel (VfR), founded in 1927, where he made contacts with other pioneers in rocket technology, such as Rudolf Nebel and Walter Hohmann . In 1929 and 1930 Oberth was the 1st chairman of the VfR. In Fritz Lang's visionary film Woman in the Moon (1929) he worked together with Rudolf Nebel as a scientific advisor. However, the launch of a rocket for the premiere failed.

Oberth's work formed the basis for the first generation of German rocket engineers and space pioneers: Wernher von Braun , who worked with Oberth from 1929, Eugen Sänger , Ernst Stuhlinger , Helmut Gröttrup , Walter Thiel and many others. These specialists and the results from the German A4 program and their use for the V2 retaliatory weapon founded the large-scale rocket technology in the USA and USSR after the Second World War , which led to space travel through the arms race of the Cold War and finally to the first manned moon landing in 1969 .

Recognition and use in rocket technology under National Socialism

In 1938 Oberth received a research contract from the Technical University of Vienna , where, at his suggestion, a rocket test site was built in Felixdorf in 1940 . In the same year he moved to the Technical University of Dresden and received German citizenship the following year . From 1941 to 1943 Oberth worked under the code name Fritz Hann at the Peenemünde Army Research Center , where he was involved in the development of the V2 . Oberth criticized the V2 program because, in his view, it could not achieve the desired military effect with enormous production costs. In 1943 he came to Reinsdorf near Wittenberg , where he stayed until the end of the war and worked on a remote-controlled solid rocket .

post war period

The Hermann Oberth monument in Feucht

From 1945 Hermann Oberth lived in Feucht near Nuremberg, where his family had already fled during the war. In 1948 Hermann Oberth went to Switzerland and worked there as a scientific expert. From 1950 to 1953 he was in the service of the Italian Navy and developed a solid rocket. In 1955 he worked at the instigation of his former student Wernher von Braun in the USA at the rocket development center in Huntsville , Alabama . In 1958 he returned to Germany, only to travel to the USA again in 1961, where he worked as a consulting engineer for Convair in San Diego , California . He then retired. Oberth also dealt with the possibility of extraterrestrial life and the UFO phenomenon and commented on it several times. In 1962, Oberth said in a speech of thanks to the Association of Expellees , which had made him an honorary member: “I was hoping to find a missile weapon that could have broken the Versailles Treaty. I didn't succeed. "

The Hermann Oberth Space Museum is located at his home in Feucht .

From 1965 to 1967 he was a member of the newly founded NPD . Hermann Oberth died on December 28, 1989 at the age of 95 in Nuremberg. An obituary by Silent Aid , which was criticized for its support by National Socialist perpetrators, shows that Oberth was “a loyal helper and donor to support those in need”.

family

Hermann Oberth was married to Mathilde geb. Bumblebee. The couple had two daughters and two sons. The son Julius Oberth (* 1919) was reported missing in 1943, the daughter Ilse Oberth (1924–1944) was a rocket technician. She was killed on August 28, 1944 on the “Schlier” rocket test rig in the Redl-Zipf sub-camp in an explosion immediately after an A4 engine test. 27 people died as a result of the explosion. The son Adolf Oberth (1928–2007) was a chemist and inventor, he supported his father in the 1950s in the development of fuel mixtures for solid rocket rockets and later worked at Aerojet in Sacramento , California. The daughter Erna Roth-Oberth (1922–2012) made a special contribution to looking after her father's estate.

Awards and honors

Portrait head of Oberth in Sighișoara (Schäßburg) at its former location at the staircase to the hour tower

Trivia

  • In the science fiction series Star Trek (including in the movie Star Trek III) there are spaceships of the Oberth class.
  • In the last German silent film, Frau im Mond by Fritz Lang, shot in 1928/29, he worked as a scientific advisor. The partially realistic scenes already partially anticipate the realities of the future.

Society / association

The German Space Agency (DAFRA), founded in 1952 (from 1957: Deutsche Raketengesellschaft (DRG)) was renamed the Hermann Oberth Society around 1961 , promoted the next generation of aerospace engineers , experimented with rockets and joined the German Aerospace Society in 1993 Space travel - Lilienthal - Oberth e. V. (DGLR).

Fonts (selection)

  • The Rocket into Interplanetary Space. 1923. (Reprint: Michaels-Verlag, 1984, ISBN 3-89539-700-8 )
  • with Franz von Hoefft, Walter Hohmann, Karl Debus, Guido von Pirquet and Willy Ley : The possibility of space travel. Generally understandable contributions to the space problem. Sander, Hachmeister & Thal, Leipzig 1928.
  • Paths to space travel . 1929. (Reprint: VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf, 1992, ISBN 3-18-400755-3 )
  • Research and Beyond. Baum, Pfullingen 1930.
  • People in space. New projects for rocket and space travel. 1954.
  • The moon car. 1959.
  • Matter and life. Reflections on the modern worldview. The candlestick - Otto Reichl, Remagen 1959.
  • Catechism of the Uranids. Do our religions have a future? Thoughts from philosophical lectures and some as yet unpublished writings. 1966.
  • with Henning Eichberg : moon addiction. On the contemporary history of technology and the occidental syndrome. Young Forum series No. 2. German-European Studies, Verlag Deutsch-European Studies GmbH, Hamburg 1973. (A conversation between the two.)
  • Politics and art. German Academy for Education and Culture, Munich 1975. (Series of publications by the German Academy, etc., Issue 10)
  • Cacocracy. World enemy no. 1. Dr. Roth-Oberth, Feucht near Nuremberg 1976.
  • The space mirror (extended version of people in space) Kriterion, Bucharest 1978.
  • Correspondence. 2 volumes. Edited by Hans Barth . Kriterion, Bucharest 1979, 1984.
  • Voters' guide for a world parliament. Dr. Roth-Oberth, Feucht 1983. ( Excerpt ; PDF; 1.1 MB)
  • SE Waxmann: Our teachers from the cosmos. Exoarchaeology: The Great Turning Point. Landes, Isny ​​1987, ISBN 3-9801403-0-X . Foreword 1978 by Hermann Oberth, pp. 9–12.
  • Primer For Those Who Would Govern. West Art, New York 1987, ISBN 0-914301-06-3 . Preface B. John Zavrel.

literature

  • Hans Barth : Hermann Oberth - life work effect. Uni-Verlag Dr. E. Roth-Oberth, Feucht 1985, ISBN 3-924899-00-2 .
  • Hans Barth: Hermann Oberth. "Father of space travel". Authorized biography. Bechtle, Esslingen u. a. 1991. ISBN 3-7628-0498-2 .
  • Alfred Fritz: The space professor. Hermann Oberth - a life dedicated to astronautics and the adventure of space travel. With a foreword by Wernher von Braun . Ensslin & Laiblin, Reutlingen 1969.
  • Hans Hartl: Hermann Oberth. "Champion of space travel". Authorized biography. Theodor Oppermann Verlag, Hannover-Kirchrode 1958.
  • Linus Hauser : Critique of the Neomythischen Vernunft Vol. 3. The fictions of science on the way into the 21st century. Paderborn 2016. pp. 297-313.
  • Rolf Hochhuth : Hitler's Dr. Fist. Tragedy. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-499-22872-6 . Using the example of Hermann Oberth's research, the play addresses the natural scientist's dilemma (peaceful and military use of rocket technology ).
  • Karl-Heinz Ingenhaag:  Oberth, Hermann Julius. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , pp. 400-402 ( digitized version ).
  • Pascual Jordan : Encounters: Albert Einstein, Karl Heim, Hermann Oberth, Wolfgang Pauli, Walter Heitler, Max Born, Werner Heisenberg, Max von Laue, Niels Bohr. Stalling, Oldenburg 1971, ISBN 3-7979-1934-4 .
  • Michael Kroner: Hermann Oberth. With this font, the Association of Expellees congratulates Hermann Oberth, one of the most important pioneers in space travel, on his 90th birthday. Ed .: Federation of Displaced Persons - United Country Teams and Regional Associations. Federation of Expellees, Bonn 1984. (Working aid for the Federation of Expellees, United Country Teams and Regional Associations, No. 41.)
  • Boris Rauschenbach : Hermann Oberth 1894–1989. Beyond the earth. A biography. Boris Rauschenbach. With a foreword by Ernst Stuhlinger . Translated from Russian in collaboration with the author, edited by Erna Roth-Oberth and Adolf Oberth . Böttiger, Wiesbaden 1995, ISBN 3-925725-23-7 . German translation of the biography published in Moscow in 1993.
  • Boris Rauschenbach: Hermann Oberth - The Father of Space Flight. English first edition. With a foreword by B. John Zavrel / New York 1994. West-Art, Clarence, NY ISBN 0-914 301-14-4
  • Erna Roth-Oberth, Tanja Jelnina: Hermann Oberth - A bridge between times . Visionaries from Franconia. Ed .: Bernd Flessner . Verlagdruckerei Schmidt, Neustadt an der Aisch 2000, ISBN 3-87707-542-8 , p. 113-149 (180 pp.).

Web links

Commons : Hermann Oberth  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Hermann Oberth  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Barth: Life - Work - Effect, page 21.
  2. ↑ Volkhard Bode, Gerhard Kaiser: Raketenspuren. Peenemünde 1936–1996. A historical report with current photos by Christian Thiel . Christoph Links, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-86153-112-7 , p. 58 .
  3. ↑ Michael Zuber: 40th anniversary of the Hermann Oberth Space Museum in Feucht. Siebenbürgische Zeitung, June 25, 2011, accessed on August 27, 2013 .
  4. ^ Hermann Oberth: Correspondence . 2 volumes. Edited by Hans Barth . Kriterion, Bucharest 1979, 1984
  5. ↑ Statements About Flying Saucers And Extraterrestrial Life Made By Prof. Hermann Oberth, German Rocket Scientist ( Memento from November 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) MUFON 2002, accessed on November 19, 2010
  6. ↑ Hermann Oberth . In: Spiegel Online . tape 39 , September 26, 1962 ( spiegel.de [accessed August 3, 2019]).
  7. ^ Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, second updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 , p. 442 with reference to the newsletter of the silent help 1/1990.
  8. ↑ Wolfgang Bahr, “Well-known men of Transylvania Pennalia” in “Young Life”, 2/2012, p. 13f
  9. ↑ https://upcommons.upc.edu/handle/2117/125769
  10. ↑ Oberth In: USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
  11. ^ Art at Tegel Airport at frankkoebsch.wordpress.com, accessed on October 11, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Oberth, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Oberth, Hermann Julius (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist and space pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH June 25, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Sibiu , Transylvania , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH December 28, 1989
Place of death Nuremberg