Von Braun

[Ian (Hank Kimble) Scuffling]

Just now (took a break) was listening to NPR interview with Neufeld.
Worthwhile, including Engineer vs. Scientist discussion.

Henry Mu

On 10/9/07, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:
> Neufeld, Michael J.  Von Braun: Dreamer of Space,
>   Engineer of War.  New York: Knopf, 2007.
>
> The first authoritative biography of Wernher von Braun, chief rocket
> engineer of the Third Reich—creator of the infamous V-2 rocket—who
> became one of the fathers of the U.S. space program. In this
> meticulously researched and vividly written life, Michael J. Neufeld
> gives us a man of profound moral complexities, glorified as a
> visionary and vilified as a war criminal, a man whose brilliance and
> charisma were coupled with an enormous and, some would say, blinding
> ambition.
>
> As one of the leading developers of rocket technology for the German
> army, von Braun yielded to pressure to join the Nazi Party in 1937 and
> reluctantly became an SS officer in 1940. During the war, he
> supervised work on the V-2s, which were assembled by starving slave
> laborers in a secret underground plant and then fired against London
> and Antwerp. Thousands of prisoners died—a fact he well knew and kept
> silent about for as long as possible.
>
> When the Allies overran Germany, von Braun and his team surrendered to
> the Americans. The U.S. Army immediately recognized his skills and
> brought him and his colleagues to America to work on the development
> of guided missiles, in a covert operation that became known as Project
> Paperclip. He helped launch the first American satellite in 1958 and
> headed NASA's launch-vehicle development for the Apollo Moon landing.
>
> Handsome and likable, von Braun dedicated himself to selling the
> American public on interplanetary travel and became a household name
> in the 1950s, appearing on Disney TV shows and writing for popular
> magazines. But he never fully escaped his past, and in later years he
> faced increasing questions as his wartime actions slowly came to
> light....
>
> http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307262929
>
> Recall ...
>
> Neufeld, Michael J.  The Rocket and the Reich:
>   Peenemuende and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era.
>   New York: The Free Press, 1995.
>
> http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/pubs/pubDetail.cfm?pubID=48
>
>


-- 
AsB4,

Henry