Walter Thiel

Walter Thiel (3 March 1910, Breslau – 17 August 1943, Karlshagen, near Peenemünde) was a German rocket scientist. Thiel provided the decisive ideas for the A4 (V-2) rocket engine and his research enabled rockets to head towards space. Life Walter Erich Oskar Thiel was born on 3 March 1910 in the Silesian city of Breslau, as second son of Oskar Thiel (civil servant at the German Post) and Elsa (Prinz) Thiel. In 1929 he passed all his school graduation exams (Abitur) with the highest possible grade A. After graduation he studied chemistry at the Technische Hochschule zu Breslau (now Wrocław University of Technology). Due to his excellent work he was exempt from study fees as of the third semester.