Ernst Stuhlinger
| Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger | |
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Ernst Stuhlinger holds a model of the Juno I rocket used to launch the first U.S. satellite, Explorer I.
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| Born |
December 19, 1913 Niederrimbach, Germany |
| Died | May 25, 2008 (aged 94) Huntsville, Alabama |
| Nationality | German, American |
| Spouse(s) | Irmgard Lotze Stuhlinger |
| Children | Tilman, of Tucson, Arizona, and Christoph, of Monticello, Arkansas; and a daughter, Susanne Schmidt of Heidenheim, Germany. |
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Ernst Stuhlinger (December 19, 1913 Niederrimbach, Germany – May 25, 2008) was a German-born American atomic, electrical, and rocket scientist. After being brought to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip, he developed guidance systems with Wernher von Braun's team for the US Army, and later was a scientist with NASA. He was also instrumental in the development of the ion engine for long-endurance space flight, and a wide variety of scientific experiments.
Stuhlinger was born in Niederrimbach (now part of Creglingen), Württemberg, Germany. At age 23, he earned his doctorate in physics at the University of Tübingen in 1936, working with Otto Haxel, Hans Bethe and his advisor Hans Geiger. In 1939 to 1941, he worked in Berlin, on cosmic rays and nuclear physics as an assistant professor at the Berlin Institute of Technology developing innovative nuclear detector instrumentation.
Despite showing promise as a scientist, in 1941 Stuhlinger was drafted as a private in the German Army and sent to the Russian front, where he was wounded during the Battle of Moscow. Following this, he was in the Battle of Stalingrad and was one of the few members of his unit to survive and make the long, on-foot retreat out of Russia in the cold of winter. Upon reaching German territory in 1943, Stuhingler was ordered to the rocket development center in Peenemunde where he joined Dr. Wernher von Braun's team. For the remainder of the war, he worked in the field of guidance systems. In 1954, Stuhlinger assisted in the founding of the Rocket City Astronomical Association (Renamed to the Von Braun Astronomical Society following von Braun's death) where he served as one of the five original directors for the observatory built inside Monte Sano State Park.
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