Gerhard Herbert Richard Reisig (March 3, 1910 - March 9, 2005) was a German-American engineer and rocket scientist. He worked at the

Peenemünde Army Research Center The Peenemünde Army Research Center (, HVP) was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the German Army Weapons Office (''Heereswaffenamt''). Several German guided missiles and rockets of World War II were developed by ...

during World War II and later, through

Operation Paperclip The Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from former Nazi Germany to the US for government employment after the end of World War I ...

, at the

Marshall Space Flight Center Marshall Space Flight Center (officially the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center; MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville postal address), is the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government's ...

Biography

Reisig was born in Leipzig on March 3, 1910. As a child, he attended school at the Nikolaischule. Reisig attended university at the Technical University of Dresden, where he received a BS in engineering physics in 1932 and a ''Diplom-Ingenieur'' in 1934. Years later, in 1963, he received his Doctor of Engineering from the

Technical University of Braunschweig TU Braunschweig (, unofficially ''University of Braunschweig – Institute of Technology'') is the oldest ' (comparable to an institute of technology in the American system) in Germany. It was founded in 1745 as Collegium Carolinum and is a membe ...

. After university, Reisig worked from 1935 to October 1937 at the

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

Co. In 1937 he was hired by

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( ; ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German–American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and '' Allgemeine SS'', the leading figure in the development of ...

at Peenemünde, where Reisig joined von Braun's rocket team and continued to work until 1945. Reisig worked on the A3 and A5 designs of the Aggregat rocket series as well as sounding rocket missions using the

V-2 rocket The V2 (), with the technical name ''Aggregat (rocket family), Aggregat-4'' (A4), was the world's first long-range missile guidance, guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the S ...

. In 1943 he began working under

Walter Dornberger Major-General Dr. Walter Robert Dornberger (6 September 1895 – 26 June 1980) was a German Army artillery officer whose career spanned World War I and World War II. He was a leader of Nazi Germany's V-2 rocket programme and other projects a ...

on the ultimately unfinished

Wasserfall The ("Waterfall remote-controlled anti-aircraft rocket") was a German guided supersonic surface-to-air missile project of World War II. Development was not completed before the end of the war and it was not used operationally. The system was ...

missile project. Reisig was acquired in Operation Paperclip and traveled to the U.S. with von Braun's team, arriving December 6, 1945. Reisig first worked at

Fort Bliss Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Established in 1848, the fort was renamed in 1854 to honor William Wallace Smith Bliss, Bvt.Lieut.Colonel William W.S. Bliss (1815–1853 ...

before moving to Huntsville in 1951, teaching at the

Redstone Arsenal Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army base adjacent to Huntsville, Alabama in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. A census-designated place in Madison County, Alabama, United States, it is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistica ...

Institute of Graduate Studies beginning in 1952 as a lecturer in Aerodynamics. At some point after its founding in 1956, he was employed at the

Army Ballistic Missile Agency The Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) was formed to develop the U.S. Army's first large ballistic missile. The agency was established at Redstone Arsenal on 1 February 1956, and commanded by Major General John B. Medaris with Wernher v ...

. He began work at the Marshall Space Flight Center in 1962 as a specialist in environmental effects on rockets. Reisig stayed at the MSFC until his retirement in 1973, after which he taught at the

University of Tennessee Space Institute The University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) is a satellite campus of the University of Tennessee located near Tullahoma, Tennessee. UTSI was founded to allow students to take advantage of the aerospace facilities located in the Arnol ...

and Concordia College in Minnesota.

References

External links

Dr. Gerhard Reisig Collection Collection, The University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections

Video interview with Gerhard Reisig and Konrad Dannenberg

Video interview on Gerhard Reisig with his daughter Dr. Godela Reisig Iverson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reisig, Gerhard American aerospace engineers German aerospace engineers German rocket scientists 1910 births 2005 deaths Scientists from Leipzig TU Dresden alumni TU Braunschweig alumni Early spaceflight scientists Peenemünde Army Research Center and Airfield NASA people Operation Paperclip