posted 07-18-2008 02:57 PM
Hermann Oberth was one of the three recognized fathers of spaceflight. A Transylvanian of German nationality by birth, he was educated at the Universities of Klausenburg, Munich, G�ttingen, and Heidelberg. His doctoral dissertation was rejected because it did not fit into any established scientific discipline. He published it privately as Die Rakete zu den Planetenraeumen (The Rocket into Interplanetary Space) in 1923. It and its expanded version entitled Ways to Spaceflight (1929) set forth the basic principles of space flight and directly inspired many subsequent spaceflight pioneers, including Wernher von Braun.Three places in Transsylvania hold memories for their famous son:
- Sibiu/Hermannstadt, where he was born in 1894, leaving at the age of two when his parents moved to Sighisoara;
- Sighishoara/Schaessburg, where he spent most of his childhood, went to school, and had his first job as a high school teacher;
- and Medias, where he worked as a teacher in the local Stefan Ludwig Roth Grammar School.
Sibiu does not hold any memorial site, but the Faculty of Engineering of the local University is named after Oberth.Sighisoara has set up a memorial bust in the house where his family lived. In the city's famous clock tower, one room is dedicated to Oberth and his works. The main local square is also named after him.
In Medias, the house near the train station where he lived is preserved as a memorial museum. There is a large signpost and a bust at the entrance, a what seems to be an air-to-ground missile is located in the garden, and two rooms on the ground floor holds an exhibition recalling his life and his work. Memorial objects of two other Romanian space firsts are also to be found: Romania's first cosmonaut Prunariu donated a green jumpsuit. To commemorate Austrian artillery officer Conrad Haas who was one of the very early rocket pioneers drawing designs of rockets, even multi-staged rockets in the 16th century, a number of models built after his designs are shown. The entry to the museum is 2 Lei (approximately 75 US cent), and you get a color postcard for it.
Color photos of the memorial bust at Sighisoara and the memorial house at Medias are shown here.
Transsylvania is a mountaineous region in the centre of today's Romania. Historically, it was settled by German migrants from the 12th century onwards, on invitation of the then Hungarian King to defend the scarcely populated area against Tatarian and Turkish attacks. Later, the area belonged to the Habsburg Empire. The Treaty of Trianon passed the area to Romania.
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J�rgen P Esders
Berlin, Germany
International Director (Europe), Space Unit
Vice President, Weltraum Philatelie e. V.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astroaddies
posted 07-18-2008 02:57 PM
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