Arthur Rudolph
|
|
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 brought to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip. Rudolph received an honorary doctorate of science degree from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida on February 23, 1959.
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.
During World War II, Rudolph served as a production engineer for the German V-2 rocket project. From 1945 to 1958, Rudolph 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 served as the project director of the Saturn V rocket program.
Following the allegations, by the United States Justice Department Office of Special Investigations, of his role in the persecution of slave laborers at the underground V-2 missile factory at Peenemünde. Rudolph renounced his citizenship November 28, 1983 and became a West German citizen thereafter. He left the United States in 1984 and then returned to West Germany where he was exonerated of war crimes charges.
External links
- FBI Dossier on Arthur Rudolph (http://foia.fbi.gov/arudolph.htm)
- National Archives opening records (http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/1999/12/nara121499.html)
- Arthur Rudolph and the Rocket that Took Us to the Moon (http://www.aeroscientists.org/files/arthur.pdf)
- 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. (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c101:H.RES.404:|)it:Arthur Rudolph