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Interesting that you refer to him as "Dr" Von Braun. Von Braun never acquired a doctorate. That was a title that was bestowed on him by Hitler. My understanding

Interesting that you refer to him as "Dr" Von Braun. Von Braun never acquired a doctorate. That was a title that was bestowed on him by Hitler. My understanding is he almost never used it once he reached America and people started investigating his Nazi involvement.

throwanem 10y ago
Your understanding may be in error. From NASA's historical files [1]: "Wanting to learn more about physics, chemistry, and astronomy, I entered the University of Berlin for graduate study. I was graduated with a Ph. D. in Physics in 1934." [1] http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/recollect-childhood.html http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/recollect-childhood.ht...
- stuxnet79 10y ago
  Ok, thanks for pointing this out. It seems that I'm remembering this wrong. The actual title, Hitler bestowed on him was that of "Professor" which he allowed to be used by his underlings frequently up until he got Operation Paperclip'ed to America and people started asking questions.
dragonwriter 10y ago
> Von Braun never acquired a doctorate. He earned a Ph.D. in Physics as a result of his post-graduate studies at Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin in 1934. There's certainly a regime connection, in that there was both a public portion of his thesis and a classified portion that was not published at the time, and that his research was military. But the idea that he didn't "acquire" (or, more specifically, earn through research) a Ph.D. but somehow had one bestowed as a gift by Hitler seems to be without basis.
- stuxnet79 10y ago
  > Ph.D. but somehow had one bestowed as a gift by Hitler seems to be without basis. Alright, thanks for researching this. The actual title that I was thinking of is "Professor". Hitler always called him "Prof Von Braun" even though he was never a tenured professor.
  - throwanem 10y ago
    Hitler called a lot of people a lot of things. Hitler is also dead, as is everyone else named in this branch of the conversation. I'm having a hard time figuring out where you want to take this; perhaps you'd like to cut to the chase.
    - stuxnet79 10y ago
      - Hitler bestowed a honorific on Von Braun (Professor) - Everyone in his team started calling him 'Professor' as a term of respect - The war ended, Hitler died, Americans got a hold of Von Braun and his team and literally transported them whole sale to Huntsville Alabama where they continued their rocket research - His team members still referred to him as 'Professor' - Americans working in team: "Why do they call you Professor?" - Everyone: awkward silence Von Braun was extremely embarrased of the honorific due to its origins. You must remember that just after the war, any association whatsoever to the Nazi party was a kiss of death and both Von Braun and the American government tried very hard to gloss over his involvement in Hitler's machinations. It wasn't until much, much later that people found what really went on - that to perform his research in Hitler's Reich, Von Braun was a party to some of the worst atrocities committed during the war.
      - throwanem 10y ago
        Gotcha. I'll keep this firmly in mind should I ever find myself inclined to refer to Dr. von Braun as 'Professor'.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    > Hitler always called him "Prof Von Braun" even though he was never a tenured professor. Don't know about German practice, but in places I have been that honorific isn't restricted to those holding tenure. But, in any case, even if that is true that he got referred to as "Professor", basically, because Hitler, that's no longer germane to the upthread poster's reference to him as Dr. Von Braun.
    - 10y ago

throwanem 10y ago

Your understanding may be in error. From NASA's historical files [1]: "Wanting to learn more about physics, chemistry, and astronomy, I entered the University of Berlin for graduate study. I was graduated with a Ph. D. in Physics in 1934." [1] http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/recollect-childhood.html http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/recollect-childhood.ht...

stuxnet79 10y ago
Ok, thanks for pointing this out. It seems that I'm remembering this wrong. The actual title, Hitler bestowed on him was that of "Professor" which he allowed to be used by his underlings frequently up until he got Operation Paperclip'ed to America and people started asking questions.

dragonwriter 10y ago

> Von Braun never acquired a doctorate. He earned a Ph.D. in Physics as a result of his post-graduate studies at Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin in 1934. There's certainly a regime connection, in that there was both a public portion of his thesis and a classified portion that was not published at the time, and that his research was military. But the idea that he didn't "acquire" (or, more specifically, earn through research) a Ph.D. but somehow had one bestowed as a gift by Hitler seems to be without basis.

stuxnet79 10y ago
> Ph.D. but somehow had one bestowed as a gift by Hitler seems to be without basis. Alright, thanks for researching this. The actual title that I was thinking of is "Professor". Hitler always called him "Prof Von Braun" even though he was never a tenured professor.
- throwanem 10y ago
  Hitler called a lot of people a lot of things. Hitler is also dead, as is everyone else named in this branch of the conversation. I'm having a hard time figuring out where you want to take this; perhaps you'd like to cut to the chase.
  - stuxnet79 10y ago
    - Hitler bestowed a honorific on Von Braun (Professor) - Everyone in his team started calling him 'Professor' as a term of respect - The war ended, Hitler died, Americans got a hold of Von Braun and his team and literally transported them whole sale to Huntsville Alabama where they continued their rocket research - His team members still referred to him as 'Professor' - Americans working in team: "Why do they call you Professor?" - Everyone: awkward silence Von Braun was extremely embarrased of the honorific due to its origins. You must remember that just after the war, any association whatsoever to the Nazi party was a kiss of death and both Von Braun and the American government tried very hard to gloss over his involvement in Hitler's machinations. It wasn't until much, much later that people found what really went on - that to perform his research in Hitler's Reich, Von Braun was a party to some of the worst atrocities committed during the war.
    - throwanem 10y ago
      Gotcha. I'll keep this firmly in mind should I ever find myself inclined to refer to Dr. von Braun as 'Professor'.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > Hitler always called him "Prof Von Braun" even though he was never a tenured professor. Don't know about German practice, but in places I have been that honorific isn't restricted to those holding tenure. But, in any case, even if that is true that he got referred to as "Professor", basically, because Hitler, that's no longer germane to the upthread poster's reference to him as Dr. Von Braun.
  - 10y ago