Willy Ley

(1906 - 1969)

Born in Berlin, Germany.

Influenced, like Wernher von Braun by the Transylvanian rocketry theorist Herman Oberth, Ley abandoned a career in paleontology to pursue the fledgling science of rocketry.

Ley found himself becoming an important player in rocketry experimentation in pre-war Germany, and was instrumental in Wernher von Braun's formulative years.

When the Nazis established a foothold in rocketry development in the mid-1930s, Ley fled to the United States, but found rocketry a subject not discussed with any of the serious scientific dedication in Germany at that time.

So instead, he turned his hand to writing science, covering a wide range of subjects, and used his writing skills to popularise the idea of rocketry and space travel as serious scientific subjects to people from all walks of life.

He joined up with Wernher von Braun to cover the Collier's series, and went on to assist with Disney, and many other forms of publicity.

Willy Ley passed away in 1969 only a couple of weeks before the launch of Apollo 11.