Hermann Julius Oberth was born on June 25, 1894 inHermannstadt, Siebenbüergen. His interest in space travel wasawakened at the early age of 11 by two books of Jules Verne, Fromthe Earth to the Moon and Journey Around the Moon, andthis interest remained strong throughout his life. He concluded hisstudies in Munich, Göttingen and Heidelberg with a dissertationentitled Rockets Into Interplanetary Space, which, however,was rejected by the professional committee at the time as being tooutopian. Nevertheless, the work was printed privately and it causedgreat controversy in the world press. Admiration vied with rejection,the latter often accompanied by bitter ridicule.
Hermann Oberth found a reliable companion for lifein his loyal and courageous wife Tilli, born Hummel, who gave him thestrength to bear many disappointments and to retain his faith inhimself. It was at this time, too, that his principal work, Waysto Space Travel, was published and translated into many differentlanguages. Today this work is recognized as a classic of space flighttechnology.
In 1938, the family moved from Siebenbürgen,which was then part of the German Reich. Oberth went first tothe Technical College in Vienna, then to the Technical College inDresden, and finally to the rocket stronghold, Peenemünde, wherehis pupil Wernher von Braun had meanwhile built and started theworld's first rocket.
Nor was Hermann Oberth spared the heavy blows offate. Of his four children, the Second World War first took from himhis son Julius. He was reported as missing in 1943 near Stalino. InAugust 1944, his youngest daughter Ilse was killed in an explosion ather place of work.
The end of the war found Hermann Oberth at theWASAG complex in the vicinity of Wittenberg. There he worked onsolid-fuel rockets for air defense. He succeeded in moving his familyto Feucht before the border closed.
In 1948, he was working as an independentconsultant and writer in Switzerland. In Italy in 1950, he concludedthe work he had begun at the WASAG. In 1953, he returned to Feuchtand attended the publication of his book Man in Space, inwhich he described his ideas for a space reflector, a space station,and electric spaceship and space suits.
In the meantime, Werher von Braun had establishedan American institute for space exploration in Huntsville, Alabama,where Hermann Oberth now joined him. Among other things, Oberth wasengaged here on a study entitled The Development of SpaceTechnology in the Next Ten Years. At the end of 1958, again inFeucht, he found the time to record and publish his thoughts on thetechnological possibilities of a "moon car," a "moon catapult." a"muffled airplane," and a "muffled helicopter," etc. In 1960, he washired by Convair as a technical consultant during the development ofthe Atlas rocket in the United States.
In 1962, at the age of 68, Hermann Oberth retired.The oil crisis of 1977 prompted him to contemplate alternative energysources. He designed a wind power station which made use of the jetstream as an energy source.
However, his primary interest during hisretirement lay in philosophical questions. Oberth's skill atdeveloping, with prophetic clarity, future projects for mankind,necessitates the question, whether mankind is ready for these futuretasks. In the books, Matter and Life and Catechism of theUranics, he concludes, on the grounds of scientificconsiderations, that man has an eternal and educable soul, and thatwe "can never be completely certain about reward and punishment inthe hereafter because," as he goes on to say, "in that case the goodworks, from a psychological viewpoint, would take on the quality ofusury and would no longer be seen as an expression of the socialinstinct. God cannot create the ideal man without educating him. Thatis His only means of molding man for His purposes."
At the age of 90, in his book Primer For ThoseWho Would Govern, he summed up all of his insights into showingus what mistakes could lead to the downfall of democratic governmentsand called for an honest, unbiased political education of thevoter.
On December 28, 1989, Hermann Oberth passed awayquietly at the age of 95. Many of his epoch-making ideas anddevelopments have since become reality and have won him recognitionand the highest honors all over the world.
In the HERMANN OBERTH SPACE MUSEUM in Feucht nearNuremberg, his researches and their results are open to the public,and the Herman Oberth Society brings together scientists, researchersand astronauts from East and West in order to carry on hiswork.
Hermann Oberth believed that the highest moralvalue lay in the justice to which each man must commit himself. Heoften said that a lasting peace would only be possible when justicebecame a reality. On his tombstone he had chiseled the Biblicalquote; "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst forjustice."
Translated from the German by LynneKvinnesland.