The Greatest Individual

“The greatest individual in history”. Such a broad statement, open to so many interpretations. What makes someone “great”? I mean, honestly, an argument could be created for anyone to be considered “great”. However, when it comes to people, the greatest would be the one who had not only a profound impact on his (or her) generation but subsequent generations as well. If this is the case, then Wernher Von Braun is the greatest individual of the twentieth century, and quite possible all of history.

The Man

Wernher Von Braun was born in 1912 in what was technically called the “German Empire” in central Europe. As a young boy he read the works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. These sparked an interest in space in Von Braun.
By 1932, Von Braun was working for the German Government building Ballistic missiles, and received a Ph.D. in physics in 1934. Yes, he was a member of the Nazi Party, but only after he was awarded an honorary membership in the SS, which he accepted because of fear of retribution had he not. Von Braun worked to create the V2 rockets at the secret research site Peenemunde and at a site called Mittlewerk. These places were known to use forced slave labor, but it is generally considered that Von Braun was not involved heavily in this practice. Before the end of the war, Von Braun led the surrender and defection of 500 top rocket scientists, along with test vehicles and plans for the development of rockets.
This defection was part of a program called Operation Paperclip, a program to bring top Nazi scientists to the United States. By Presidential order, however, it was illegal to allow members of the Nazi party to immigrate to the United States, but the degree of knowledge these scientists possessed, made the entire operation worth it. After being based in Texas for a while the team moved to Alabama and created the Jupiter missile for the Army. The next step was being transferred to NASA to design and build the Saturn 5 rocket. Von Braun was soon appointed head of this program. After retiring from NASA in 1972, he worked for Fairchild Industries and died in 1977.

Just Some Technical Things About his Work

This is a diagram of the V2 rocket Von Braun helped design. The rocket was a single stage, liquid fueled rocket with almost no guidance. The rocket burned a mixture of alcohol, water, and hydrogen peroxide. Similar to the fuel used in October Sky.

The Saturn rocket is much more complex. This was a three stage rocket, designed to put the Apollo spacecraft into space. The first stage used a form of kerosene called RP-1, Rocket Propellant -1. The second and third stages used liquid hydrogen as fuel. Note the people at the bottom and the sheer size of the rocket.

But Why so Great?

The extent of Von Braun’s greatness is twofold. He performed work on both the military and civilian side of rocket engineering. There was another post arguing for Mikhail Kalashnikov as the greatest individual. While Kalashnikov developed a gun, useful for relatively small battles, Von Braun worked on the strategic side. The current evolution of guided rockets can make or break a battle, equipping everything from ships, to aircraft, to individual soldiers. More importantly, however, are the ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) which shaped the world during the latter half of the twentieth century. The development of these missiles, capable of reaching the United States from Russia, and the almost simultaneous development of atomic weapons which could be carried on these missiles, and of course the various socioeconomic issues (I love that word), were a major factor in the development of the cold war. That’s just the military side though.

His expertise was a great help in the space race on the U.S. side after he was defected to the United States as well. Von Braun’s team worked to create the Saturn 5 rockets which carried the first Americans, and first Humans, to the moon. This was important in maintaining the balance which the Soviet Union upset when they launched Sputnik in 1957. Apart from being something simply awesome, sending Americans to be the first on the moon perpetuated the Cold War as a cold war, since it restored the balance between the competing superpowers. If the Cold War had turned hot, then Von Braun’s generation would have been wiped out, and there wouldn’t be any subsequent generations. This makes the development of rockets powerful enough to put men on the moon deserving of the label “Great”.

Some extra Pictures

I think this picture is amazing for the size of the engines. Thats Von Braun in front there.

A good picture of Von Braun.

The model V-2 at the Musee de l’Armee in France. I’ve seen this in person

The launch of a V-2 rocket during World War 2 at Peenemünde.

http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/excerpts.html
http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/bio.html
http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/vonbraun/bio.html
timothyministries.org
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