Transylvanian-born German physicist and rocket expert, often called
'the dean of space-flight research,' which he anticipated in the 1920s.
He designed a manned rocket and space cabin for
Fritz Lang's film "Woman
in the Moon" in 1929. At the suggestion of 'Willy Ley' and the German
Council of the Association for Space Travel, an actual rocket was to be
launched on the day of the film's premiere as a publicity stunt. During
experiments (that rocket was never launched), in an explosion Oberth
lost sight in his left eye. Working with
Wernher von Braun, he developed a jet
motor for the German government in 1930. In 1937 he began the work that
produced the V-2 rocket missile, the "buzz bomb" used by Germany
against England during World War II. In 1955 he followed von Braun to
the U.S., where he participated in rocket experiments for three years
before returning to West Germany.
