Oberths

Oberths is a surname of German origin. The name is most notably associated with Hermann Oberth (born 1894, died 1989), a physicist and engineer who was a pioneer of rocketry and astronautics. Born in Sibiu, Transylvania (then part of Austria-Hungary), he moved to Germany where his theoretical and practical work contributed to the development of modern spaceflight. He is regarded as one of the founding fathers of astronautics, alongside Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Robert Goddard. In 1923 he published The Rocket into Planetary Space, a landmark work that helped establish the scientific basis for space exploration.

The Oberth effect, named after Hermann Oberth, is a concept in orbital mechanics describing how a propulsive burn executed at higher velocity yields a greater increase in a rocket’s kinetic energy for the same amount of propellant than a burn at lower velocity. This principle influences mission design, burn timing, and propulsion strategies, and remains a foundational consideration in astrodynamics and spaceflight planning.

Beyond Hermann Oberth, the surname is carried by others but does not have a widely cited list of additional prominent figures in the public record. The term Oberth is primarily recognized in discussions of the history of rocketry and the physics of spaceflight.