ENGINEER

Wernher von Braun

1912 - 1977

Photo of Wernher von Braun

Icon of person Wernher von Braun

Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (German: [ˌvɛʁnheːɐ̯ fɔn ˈbʁaʊ̯n]; US: VUR-nər von BROWN; 23 March 1912 – 16 June 1977) was a German-American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany, and later a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the United States. As a young man, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and co-developed the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde during World War II. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Wernher von Braun has received more than 12,386,253 page views. His biography is available in 85 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 80 in 2019). Wernher von Braun is the 5th most popular engineer (down from 3rd in 2019), the 20th most popular biography from Poland (down from 14th in 2019) and the most popular Polish Engineer.

Wernher von Braun is most famous for his work on the V-2 rocket in Nazi Germany and his work on the Saturn V rocket in the United States.

Memorability Metrics

  • 12M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 73.69

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 85

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 6.71

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 5.07

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among ENGINEERS

Among engineers, Wernher von Braun ranks 5 out of 389Before him are Gustave Eiffel, Gottlieb Daimler, Mikhail Kalashnikov, and Zhuge Liang. After him are Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, Frederick Winslow Taylor, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Sergei Korolev, Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, Umberto Nobile, and André Citroën.

Most Popular Engineers in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1912, Wernher von Braun ranks 7Before him are Kim Il-sung, Alan Turing, Pope John Paul I, Eva Braun, Erich Honecker, and Milton Friedman. After him are Otto von Habsburg, Jackson Pollock, Michelangelo Antonioni, János Kádár, Millvina Dean, and Raoul Wallenberg. Among people deceased in 1977, Wernher von Braun ranks 5Before him are Charlie Chaplin, Elvis Presley, Maria Callas, and Vladimir Nabokov. After him are Anthony Eden, Stefania Turkewich, Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Ludwig Erhard, René Goscinny, Roberto Rossellini, and Jacques Prévert.

Others Born in 1912

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Others Deceased in 1977

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In Poland

Among people born in Poland, Wernher von Braun ranks 20 out of 1,694Before him are Adam Mickiewicz (1798), Fritz Haber (1868), Johann Gottfried Herder (1744), Marie Leszczyńska (1703), Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686), and Władysław Szpilman (1911). After him are Erich Ludendorff (1865), Wisława Szymborska (1923), Janusz Korczak (1878), Lech Kaczyński (1949), Fedor von Bock (1880), and Władysław IV Vasa (1595).

Among ENGINEERS In Poland

Among engineers born in Poland, Wernher von Braun ranks 1After him are Hans Kammler (1901), Adam Czerniaków (1880), Józef Bem (1794), Kurt Tank (1898), Henryk Dembiński (1791), Konstantin Kalinin (1887), Walter Thiel (1910), Johannes Winkler (1897), and Boris Chertok (1912).