WILLY LEY: ROCKET SCIENTIST AND BOOK COLLECTOR

摘要

Willy Ley was born on October 2, 1906. He was educated in Berlin and immigrated to Englandin 1935 and then to the United States in 1936. At an early age, he was interested in rocketry and, whilestill in Germany, helped form a club for rocket enthusiasts, which was called the Verein furRaumschiffahrt or VfR (Society for Space Travel). In 1926 his book entitled Die FahrtinsWeltraum(Travel in Outer Space) was published in Germany. Upon arrival in the United States, he continued towrite, edit, and serve as advisor for many technical projects. Early adventures in the United Statesincluded attempted mail delivery via a rocket glider. Book collecting was important to Ley, and he hadamassed a library of over 5,000 books and journals. Upon his death in June, 1969, the book collectionwas bought by the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The book collection contains many rare andfascinating books. The personal documents of Willy Ley are in the Willy Ley Collection maintained bythe Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Archives. Together, these collections tell a story of a man whounderstood rocket science, popularized the space effort in the United States, and collected a treasure troveof books.