The childhood of the rocket scientist Wernher Von Braun

At the end of World War II, the people of England were horrified, standing for a new weapon: a flying bomb. The unknown bombs fell into London city day and night. The father of this weapon is a young scientist whose language was not known at the time: Wernher Von Braun (1912 - 1977)

Wernher Von Braun was born on March 23, 1912 in Wirsitz, Silisie Province, in the eastern part of Germany, this part of the country now belongs to Poland. Wernher is the second of the three sons of the Reverend Magnus Von Braun. His father was a serious landlord, had been involved in the politics of the Weimar Republic of Germany, and his mother, Emmy Von Quistorp, was very passionate about astronomy. She often took the children to the terrace in the evenings and showed the planets and stars sparkling in the sky. So Wernher boy had dreamed that one day he could set foot on those strange celestial bodies.

At the age of 13, Wernher liked to play firecrackers. He stuffed gunpowder into a children's car and lit it. The car ran like a monster, causing terror to passersby and making the horses flock. He was taken home by the police. Mr. Magnus frowned and scolded: "Wernher, you can't make me sound like that. I'll let you in a school dorm 5 kilometers away so you can't play around."

And to the new school year, Wernher left the family to study at a remote school located on an island of Frise. Here, he did not work hard. For the teachers, he was a poor student because the principal criticized him: "The student is hard-working, completely ignorant of mathematics, it is difficult to learn well."

In 1925, by chance Wernher Von Braun was reading a book on astronomy. In the book is a rocket flying towards the moon, followed by a song written by Hermann Oberth. Oberth is one of the first theorists of rockets, also a disciple of Tsiolkovsky, a Russian prophet about how to conquer space. Obeth's book, " Rocket in the interplanetary space", surprised many people and made Mr. Von Braun's head mad. His bedside book that is over 100 pages thick is confusing for him, because it contains many mysterious equations. He decided to ask his father to study private math and physics. Once, von Braun said, "Mathematics is essential for understanding how to travel in space, so I decided to study." Von Braun is so advanced in mathematics and physics that he can replace professors teaching lessons to his classmates whenever the professor is absent.

In 1928, the Space Travel Association (Verein fur Raumschiffahrt) was created by Obeth. The association publishes a newspaper named "Fire" every month and gathers some scientists and German youths who love rocket fire. Among the readers of the Fire magazine, there was a 16-year-old man, tall, blue-eyed, brown-haired and square-chin, showing a lot of energy, that was Wernher Von Braun who had just finished high school enrolled in the Berlin Institute of Technology.

Von Braun carries the rockets on his shoulders (right)

In the autumn of 1929, Von Braun went to Willy Ley's house and told him about his preference for space exploration. Von Braun wanted Mr. Ley to introduce himself to the Space Tourism Association, which he was a founding member. Mr. Willey Ley then led Von Braun to meet Obeth and started from there, Von Braun proudly carrying the rockets that the siblings would launch.

At that time, the famous film producer Fritz Lang intended to film a film about the conquest of space. Fritz Lang invited Obeth as a technical advisor. Obeth accepted but did not forget to ask for enough money to build a rocket and Obeth intended to launch the rocket on the day the film began to air.

That year, Fritz Lang's "A Moon Lady" brought success, while the launch of missiles was bitterly defeated, contrary to the media's frantic praise. But members of the Space Tourism Association are not so disappointed. In their opinion, they had a missile failure because they could not find a fuel that could create a sufficiently strong pressure. They asked chemists to invent a new fire.

Von Braun and Mr. Obeth

At Reinickendorf, the outskirts of Berlin, there is a vacant land. The Space Travel Association signed a contract with the City Council on September 27, 1930, to rent the land at a price of VND 1,500 per year. This space is proudly named "Fire Airport". This airport is sketchy, but only a few months later, it is known all over the world for its special character. Many people came from France, America, England . to visit. Someone volunteered to help with the experiment. It is full of goodwill technicians: engineers, machinists, chemists, pilots . The Space Tourism Association is not rich in funds but small Mirak missiles are also born. As of 1932, Oberth, Ley, Von Braun and other members succeeded in 85 attempts and one of the missiles climbed a mile, reaching a record of that time.

In the spring of 1932, Von Braun completed his engineering program at the Berlin Institute of Technology, and two years later, earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Berlin. However, education does not disrupt Von Braun's pursuit of rocket engineering.

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Read: " Wernher Von Braun making missiles "