Hermann Ganswindt
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Hermann Ganswindt | |
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Inventor, scientist |
Hermann Ganswindt (12 June 1856,
He was born in
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 explosions.[citation needed] Since it was to be taken aloft by way of a carrier vehicle, he designed a helicopter as early as 1884.[citation needed]
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[citation needed]. A movie covering the event was taken by Max Skladanowsky, but it remains lost.
In 1902, Ganswindt was accused of fraud and arrested because he had added a safety bar to his vehicle[
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.[
In 1975, the city of
His enthusiasm towards space travel was shared by one of his sons, who worked for Wernher von Braun's moon program. His daughter Isolde Hausser became a physicist.
See also
- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
- Hermann Oberth
- Robert H. Goddard
- Spacecraft propulsion
- List of German inventors and discoverers
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
- ^ Ley, Willy (1968). Rockets, Missiles and Men in Space. New York: Viking Press. pp. 115-124.