Oberst

[johns at nbn.com]

Like some recient contributors, I got the bug a few years ago and went off and 
read about the early experiementers in rocketry. One of the interesting facts 
I pulled out of my reading was one of the earliest theorists in modern 
rocketry was a Pole (below attributed to be a German) named Herman Oberth. I 
couldn't help but think that there must be a connection between this man's 
name and Oberst Enzian. 

"   A second theoretician, Hermann Oberth, a German, had perhaps the greatest 
vision. Possibly because he sought publicity, Oberth's work had the greatest 
impact of all in exciting new interest in rocketry and space exploration. His 
first and most famous book, 'The Rocket into Interplanetary Space', was 
published in 1923. Like other pioneering works, it contained an exposition of 
the fundamentals of rocket propulsion. It also included proofs that a rocket 
can both operate in a vacuum and exceed the velocity of its own exhaust. 
Oberth also speculated upon the problems of manned space flight."

---------------------------------------------------------
Excerpted from Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia
Copyright © 1993, 1994 Compton’s NewMedia, Inc.