Arthur Rudolph
From Freepedia
Arthur Louis Hugo Rudolph (November 9, 1906 - January 1, 1996) was a rocket scientist first for Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945 and later the United States for the Army and NASA where he managed the development of the Saturn V moon rocket.
Rudolph was born in Stepfershausen, Meiningen, Germany. He attended technical school at the University of Berlin. He married Martha Therese Kohls (July 5, 1905-?) on October 3, 1935 in Berlin. They had one daughter, Marianne in 1939.
In the 1920's, Rudolph became interested in rocketry. He worked for the Heylandt company, replacing Max Valier after his death. During the depression, Rudolph was laid off, but was returned to complete contracts for the German Army. He joined the NSDAP in 1931. In 1934, Walter Dornberger hired him to work under Werner von Braun. He was heavily involved with the operations at Kummersdorf, helping develop the A-2, A-3, and JATO rocket engines. He managed the planning of the Peenemünde facilities and later served as a production engineer for the V-2 project. Rudolph surrendered to the American army in the spring of 1945.
In October 1945, Rudolph participated in Operation Backfire before he was was brought to the US as part of Operation Paperclip. From 1945 to 1958, he was employed by the Department of the Army to work with its missile program first at Fort Bliss, Texas, then in San Diego, California in connection with the Solar Aircraft Corporation. He was naturalized as an American citizen November 11, 1954. Rudolph went to work at NASA immediately after its creation in 1958. He received an honorary doctorate of science degree from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida on February 23, 1959. In December 1961 he became Assistant Director of Systems Engineering, serving as liaison between vehicle development at Marshall Space Flight Center and the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. He served as the project director of the Saturn V rocket program from August 1963 to May 1968, then became special assistant to the director of Marshall Space Flight Center. The first Saturn V launch lifted off from Kennedy Space Center and performed flawlessly on November 9, 1967, Rudolph's birthday. On January 14, 1969 Rudolph retired from NASA. During his tenure at NASA, he was awarded the Exceptional Service Medal and the Distinguished Service Medal.
Following the allegations, by the United States Justice Department Office of Special Investigations (OSI), of his role in the persecution of slave laborers at the underground V-2 missile factory at Mittelwerk. On November 28, 1983, Rudolph, purportedly under duress and fearful for the welfare of his wife and daughter, signed an agreement with the OSI stating that he would leave the United States and renounce his United States citizenship. He left the United States in 1984 and returned to West Germany where he was exonerated of war crimes charges. He died in Hamburg in 1996.
In 1990, the House of Representatives ordered hearings to determine whether the OSI was justified in its actions or violated the rights of Arthur Rudolph.
External links
- FBI Dossier on Arthur Rudolph
- National Archives opening records
- Arthur Rudolph and the Rocket that Took Us to the Moon
- United States' House of Representatives resolution to authorize the House Judiciary Committee to investigate evidence relative to Authur Rudolph and possible civil rights violations against him by the Office of Special Investigations.
Categories: 1905 births | 1996 deaths | Aeronautical engineers | German scientists | United States scientists | German inventors | German World War II people
