Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (* March 23rd, 1912 in Wirsitz, Province of Posen) is a German Rocket technician.
At the early age of 13, he experimented in the Berliner Tiergarten park with Firework rockets. When he got to read the book Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen by Hermann Oberth, the technical Utopias which he knew from the novels by Jules Verne and Kurd Laßwitz became something Real for him. At the age of 16, he built a rocket car on his own, inspired by the Opel RAK, which almost killed him. In 1928, he became a Member of the Verein für Raumschiffahrt. In 1934, he received his doctorate from the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin; the very Ph.D. thesis is a secret.
In the same year of 1934, Aggregat 2 which was incepted by von Braun, being started from the North Sea Island Borkum, reached a height of 2,200 Meters. During 1935–37, he developed a rocket engine in close cooperation with the Team of Ernst Heinkel and the Test pilot Erich Warsitz, which was tested on a plane, a Heinkel He 112, at first in Kummersdorf and later in Neuhardenberg.
Since 1937, von Braun was the technical Director of the new Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde (HVP). Since 1939, he's been working on the Test rocket Aggregat 4 (A4).
Since December 1938, he is a Member of the NSDAP. On May 1st, 1940 he became a Member of the Allgemeine SS.
