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Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun was a German American aerospace engineer and space architect. He became a member of the Nazi Party and then the Allgemeine SS. He led the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany, and later of rocket and space technology in the US.
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science · German American aerospace engineer (1912–1977) · physicist · military flight engineer · non-fiction writer · inventor · military personnel · design engineer · engineer · also Wernher von Braun, Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun, Werner von Braun, Braun
Born 23 March 1912 · Died 16 June 1977 · Q57384
77 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 5 entries
“genuine emotional attachment”
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“at Peenemünde we had been coddled, here you were counting pennies”
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“at no time in Germany did I or any of my associates ever see a Goddard patent”
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“I have very deep and sincere regret for the victims of the V-2 rockets, but there were victims on both sides...A war is a war, and when my country is at war, my duty is to help win that war.”
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2024· 2 entries
Yahoo: Nazi rocket scientists, including Wernher von Braun, surrendered to this Sheboygan man in May 1945
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Lead Stories rated the claim “The founder of NASA was a man by the name of Wernher von Braun” 1958 NASA Act.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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2023· 1 entry
autoevolution: Fleet of Spaceships Going for the Moon Is How Wernher von Braun Imagined the Future
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2021· 1 entry
Fox Business: 'Elon’ would lead humans on Mars, legendary rocket scientist Wernher von Braun predicted in 1953 book
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2019· 2 entries
PBS: Wernher von Braun’s Record on Civil Rights
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Published “Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis” in Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health — cited 16,469 times.
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2017· 1 entry
al.com: Was Wernher von Braun really a Nazi?
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2012· 2 entries
Gizmodo: Wernher von Braun’s Martian Chronicles
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Nazi concentration camp survivor David Salz gave a speech in Friedberg, calling out to the public to "Do everything to make this name disappear from this school
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2011· 1 entry
About his personal memories of and interviews with Dr Wernher von Braun
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2006· 1 entry
Published “Using thematic analysis in psychology” in Qualitative Research in Psychology — cited 153,412 times.
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2005· 1 entry
Published “Scalable molecular dynamics with NAMD” in Journal of Computational Chemistry — cited 15,879 times.
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2002· 1 entry
A former SS officer at Peenemünde told the BBC that von Braun had regularly worn the SS uniform to official meetings
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1995· 2 entries
After lengthy deliberations, to keep the name but "to address von Braun's ambiguity in the advanced history classes"
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That, after an apparent sabotage attempt, von Braun ordered a prisoner to be flogged, while Robert Cazabonne, another French prisoner, stated that von Braun stood by as prisoners were hanged by chains suspended by cranes
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1984· 1 entry
When Arthur Rudolph, one of his top affiliates from the A-4/V2 through the Apollo projects, agreed to renounce his U
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1982· 1 entry
Awarded National Aviation Hall of Fame (1982).
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1977· 5 entries
Died 1977-06-16.
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“Science does not have a moral dimension. It is like a knife. If you give it to a surgeon or a murderer, each will use it differently. Should the knife have not been developed?”
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“Everything in space obeys the laws of physics. If you know these laws, and obey them, space will treat you kindly. And don't tell me that man doesn't belong out there. Man belongs wherever he wants to go — and he’ll do plenty well when he gets there.”
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“Science does not have a moral dimension. It is like a knife. If you give it to a surgeon or a murderer, each will use it differently.”
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“There is just one thing I can promise you about the outer-space program: Your tax dollar will go farther.”
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1976· 2 entries
Awarded International Space Hall of Fame (1976).
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Became a scientific consultant to Lutz Kayser, the CEO of OTRAG, and a member of the Daimler-Benz board of directors
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1975· 3 entries
Won National Medal of Science (1975).
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Awarded Werner von Siemens Ring (1975).
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And became its first president and chairman
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1974· 1 entry
Awarded Maxwell Lecture (1974).
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1973· 2 entries
During a routine physical examination, von Braun was diagnosed with kidney cancer, which could not be controlled with the medical techniques available at the time
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Von Braun was diagnosed with kidney cancer during a routine medical examination
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1970· 1 entry
Awarded Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1970).
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1969· 2 entries
Won Wilhelm Exner Medal (1969).
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Won NASA Distinguished Service Medal (1969).
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1967· 2 entries
Won Langley Gold Medal (1967).
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Von Braun was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, and in 1975, he received the National Medal of Science
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1963· 1 entry
Von Braun reflected on the history of rocketry, and said of Goddard's work: "His rockets
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1962· 2 entries
Won Elliott Cresson Medal (1962).
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Converted to the lunar orbit rendezvous concept that was subsequently realized
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1960· 1 entry
His group was assimilated into NASA, where he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo space
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1959· 1 entry
Awarded Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1959).
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1958· 1 entry
Won Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy (1958).
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1957· 1 entry
With the launch of Sputnik 1, a belief grew within the United States that it lagged behind the Soviet Union in the emerging Space Race
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1952· 1 entry
Von Braun first published his concept of a crewed space station in a Collier's Weekly magazine series of articles titled "Man Will Conquer Space Soon
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1950· 2 entries
At the start of the Korean War, von Braun and his team were transferred to Huntsville, Alabama, his home for the next 20 years
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“) might have marked the beginning of these efforts. Von Braun”
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1946· 1 entry
Attended church in El Paso, Texas, and underwent a religious conversion to Evangelical Christianity
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1945· 1 entry
Explained his decision to surrender to the Western Allies, rather than Russians, as being influenced by a desire to share rocket technology with people whom he felt followed the Bible
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1944· 2 entries
Awarded Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords (1944).
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Shortly before the Nazis began firing V-2s at England
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1943· 1 entry
Had an affair with a French woman while in Paris preparing V-2 launch sites in northeastern France
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1940· 1 entry
Von Braun joined the SS and was given the rank of Untersturmführer in the Allgemeine-SS and issued membership number 185,068
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1939· 2 entries
Von Braun was appointed a technical advisor at Peenemünde Army Research Center on the Baltic Sea
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I was officially demanded to join the National Socialist Party
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1937· 1 entry
As part of a broad push by the Nazis to recruit members in positions of technical and social leadership, von Braun was pressured to join the Nazi Party to continue his work on rockets
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1936· 2 entries
Von Braun's rocketry team working at Kummersdorf investigated installing liquid-fuelled rockets in aircraft
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Erich Warsitz was seconded by the RLM to von Braun and Heinkel, because he had been recognized as one of the most experienced test pilots of the time, and because he also had an extraordinary fund of technical knowledge
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1934· 1 entry
Studied at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Doctor of Philosophy (1934).
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1933· 1 entry
Von Braun was working on his creative doctorate when the Nazi Party came to power in a coalition government in Germany; rocketry was almost immediately moved onto the national agenda
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1932· 3 entries
Von Braun received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Technische Hochschule Berlin, Germany
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Studied at Technische Universität Berlin, bachelor's degree (1930–1932).
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Having caught wind of von Braun's rocket business, the German Army connected with von Braun to pursue basic missile research and weather data experimentation
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1931· 1 entry
Von Braun attended the ETH Zürich in Switzerland
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1930· 4 entries
Studied at Hermann Lietz-Schule Spiekeroog (1930).
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Von Braun attended the Technische Hochschule Berlin, where he joined the Spaceflight Society (Verein für Raumschiffahrt or VfR), co-founded by Valier, and worked with Willy Ley in his liquid-fueled rocket motor tests in
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Studied at ETH Zurich (1930).
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Von Braun attended a presentation given by Auguste Piccard
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1929· 1 entry
By Herman Potočnik in his book The Problem of Space Travel – The Rocket Motor
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1928· 2 entries
His parents moved him to the Hermann-Lietz-Internat (also a residential school) on the East Frisian North Sea island of Spiekeroog
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The Raketenrummel or "Rocket Rumble" fad initiated by Fritz von Opel and Max Valier was highly influential on von Braun as a teenage space enthusiast
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1925· 1 entry
Attended a boarding school at Ettersburg Castle near Weimar, Free State of Thuringia, where he did not do well in physics and mathematics
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1915· 1 entry
Where his father worked at the Ministry of the Interior
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1912· 1 entry
Born 1912-03-23.
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