1950's Science and Technology | Von Braun, Wernher 1912-1977

ROCKET SCIENTIST

Early Interest in Rocketry.

Wernher von Braun was born in Prussia in 1912. His father, a baron, was minister of food and agriculture during the Weimar Republic before Hitler came to power in Germany, and his work caused him to move frequently. Baroness von Braun had broad interests, including astronomy, which she passed to her son. In school, von Braun was particularly poor at math and science. His father moved him to a more practical school that taught farming and land management. He did well there, and his mother encouraged his interest in astronomy by buying him a telescope as a reward. He later recalled that his interest in space travel was further excited by an article on flight to the moon that he read when he was eighteen. For whatever reason, he became involved with astronomy and rocketry, interests that led him to study engineering at institutes in Berlin and Zurich, where he assisted the...