Hermann Ganswindt (12 June 1856, Voigtshof bei Seeburg,

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

– 25 October 1934) was a German

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

and

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such ...

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

, whose inventions (such as the

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

) are thought to have been ahead of his time. He was born in Voigtshof near Seeburg,

. During his youth, he showed an interest in technology. As a student he developed a

freewheel image:Freewheel en.svg, Freewheel mechanism In mechanical engineering, mechanical or automotive engineering, a freewheel or overrunning clutch is a device in a transmission (mechanics), transmission that disengages the driveshaft from the driv ...

for bicycles, which he later produced in Berlin-Schöneberg. Following a suggestion by his parents he attended law school at the universities of Zurich and Leipzig. After completion of his military service he enrolled at the University of Berlin. However, he was exmatriculated for not undertaking his studies. After 1880 he developed concepts for a space vehicle based on the principle of repulsion. His two-stage vehicle was designed to be driven by a series of

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

explosions. Since it was to be taken aloft by way of a carrier vehicle, he designed a

as early as 1884. On 27 May 1891, he gave a public speech at the Berlin Philharmony in which he introduced his concept of a galactic vehicle (''Weltenfahrzeug''). In July 1901 the maiden flight of his helicopter took place in Berlin-Schöneberg, which probably was the first heavier-than-air motor-driven flight carrying humans. A movie covering the event was taken by

Max Skladanowsky Max Skladanowsky (30 April 1863 – 30 November 1939) was a German people, German inventor and early filmmaker. Along with his brother Emil, he invented the Bioscop, an early movie projector the Skladanowsky brothers used to display a moving pict ...

, but it remains lost. In 1902, Ganswindt was accused of fraud and arrested because he had added a safety bar to his vehicle to prevent it from rolling. After spending eight weeks in pre-trial custody he was released after a flight demonstration proved his innocence. Nevertheless, his business was ruined. He died in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1934.

Legacy

Ganswindt's work is considered to be ahead of his time by several decades since his contemporary fellows had been unable to recognize the impact of his ideas. During his late years he kept in touch with Austrian rocket pioneer Max Valier as well as with German rocket pioneer

Hermann Oberth Hermann Julius Oberth (; 25 June 1894 – 28 December 1989) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian-born German physicist and rocket pioneer of Transylvanian Saxons, Transylvanian Saxon descent. Oberth supported Nazi Germany's war effort and re ...

, who shared his knowledge of

Robert Goddard Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945) was an American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, which was successfully lau ...

's work with him. In 1975, the city of

recognized his achievements by naming a bridge (''Hermann-Ganswindt-Brücke'') in Berlin-Schöneberg. The

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

(IAU) named the lunar crater Ganswindt in his honor. His enthusiasm towards space travel was shared by one of his sons, who worked for

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 ...

's moon program. His daughter Isolde Hausser became a physicist.

Literature

* H. Ganswindt: ''Die Lenkbarkeit des aerostatischen Luftschiffes : gemeinfaßlich mit ausführlichen Berechnungen und Zeichnungen dargestellt''; Berlin : Gsellius, 1884 * H. Ganswindt: ''Das jüngste Gericht ; Erfindungen von Hermann Ganswindt''; 2nd edition, with illustrations and expertise. Schöneberg b. Berlin: Selbstverl., 1899 * Daniel Brandau: 'Cultivating the Cosmos: Spaceflight Thought in Imperial Germany', in: History and Technology 28, no.3 (2012), pp. 225-54.

References

External links

The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganswindt, Hermann 1856 births 1934 deaths People from Jeziorany People from the Province of Prussia German aerospace engineers German spaceflight pioneers Early spaceflight scientists Early rocketry

Legacy

See also

Literature

References

External links