Biography

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.