Herman Potocnik

Herman Potocnik lived less than 37 years. He was born in 1892 in Pula and died in 1929 in Vienna. His father was Jozef Pogacnik from Slovenj Gradec, a high-ranking naval officer and doctor and a general when he retired. His mother came from Vitanje near Maribor. After his father's early death, he lived with his mother in Maribor. He finished Military academy in Austria and returned to Slovenia during WW I as an engineering officer expert in railway and bridge construction. Because of his illness (tuberculosis) he was discharged in 1919. Then he studied engineering in Vienna and in 1925 received a degree in rocket technology. Living on the verge of poverty his illness progressed quickly, and between 1928 and 1929 he wrote his book literally on his death bed, living only to see it published and dying the same year.