Transylvanian Saxon rocket theorist and experimenter · 1894–1989
Hermann Oberth
His spaceflight theory belongs to an international history that includes Transylvanian roots and the military uses of rocket technology.
A life behind the work
Oberth was born in Hermannstadt, now Sibiu, into Transylvania’s Saxon community. After beginning medical studies, he turned to physics and the possibilities of spaceflight. His 1923 book on interplanetary rockets helped establish a technical case for reaching space. He taught in Mediaș while developing his ideas and later collaborated with German rocket experimenters, including Wernher von Braun. During the Second World War he worked in Nazi Germany’s military rocket programme at Peenemünde. He subsequently worked in the United States before returning to Germany.