THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL INVENTORS OF ALL TIME

7 The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time 7

Test launch of a V-2 rocket. Camera

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of space never left him thereafter. In 1920 his family moved
to the seat of government in Berlin. He did not do well in
school, particularly in physics and mathematics. A turning
point in his life occurred in 1925 when he acquired a copy
of Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (“The Rocket into
Interplanetary Space”) by a rocket pioneer, Hermann
Oberth. Frustrated by his inability to understand the
mathematics, he applied himself at school until he led
his class.
In the spring of 1930, while enrolled in the Berlin
Institute of Technology, Braun joined the German
Society for Space Travel. In his spare time he assisted
Oberth in liquid-fueled rocket motor tests. In 1932 he was
graduated from the Technical Institute with a B.S. degree
in mechanical engineer-
ing and entered Berlin
University.
By the fall of 1932
the rocket society was
experiencing grave fi nan-
cial diffi culties. At that
time Capt. Walter R.
Dornberger (later major
general) was in charge of
solid-fuel rocket research
and development in the
Ordnance Department
of Germany’s 100,000-
man armed forces, the
Reichswehr. He recog-
nized the military
potential of liquid-fueled
rockets and the ability
of Braun. Dornberger
arranged a research grant