Willy Ley was born on October 2, 1906 in Berlin Germany, he attended college to become a paleontologist before developing an interest in spaceflight after reading Hermann Oberth’s book Die Rakete zu den Planetenraumen, which translates into By Rocket into Interplanetary Space. In 1927 Ley became one of the first members of Germany’s amateur rocket group, the Verein fur Raumschiffahrt or VfR.
The VfR disbanded in 1933 amidst controversy with in its ranks over the interest the military was taking in their activities, two years later in 1935 Ley decided to flee the Nazi regime and relocated to the United States, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1944. Although he was a well known writer in Germany, his works in the United States, primarily from the 1950’s and 1960’s are regarded as classics of popular science. He was best known for his books on rocketry and related topics however he also wrote several books about unknown animals.
Willy Ley passed away on June 24, 1969 in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York just one month before the first person set foot on the moon. The Lay crater, located on the far side of the moon, is named after Willy Ley.
Quick Info: (where applicable)
Date of Birth: October 2, 1906
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
Current Location: Na
Books:
• Travel in Outer Space (1926)
• The Lungfish and the Unicorn: An Excursion into Romantic Zoology (1941)
• The Lungfish, the Dodo and the Unicorn: An excursion into Romantic Zoology (revised edition) (1948)
• The Conquest of Space (1950)
• The Conquest of the Moon (1953)
• Salamanders and Other Wonders; Still More Adventures of a Romantic Naturalist (1955)
• Space Pilots – Adventures in Space (1957)
• Willy Ley’s for Your Information: On Earth and in the Sky (1957)
• Man Made Satellites (1958)
• Willy Ley’s Exotic Zoology (1959)
• The Exploration of Mars (1960)
• Watchers of the Skies an Informal History of Astronomy from Babylon to the Space Age (1963)
• Beyond the Solar System (1964)
• The Meteorite Craters (1968)
• Rockets, Missiles and Space Travel (Book Club Edition) (1968)
• Dawn of Zoology (1968)
Schooling and/or Degrees:
Organizations:
• Verein fur Raumschiffahrt (Germany’s amateur rocket group)
Website:
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