Adolf Thiel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1915-02-12)February 12, 1915 |
| Died | June 2, 2001(2001-06-02) (aged 86) |
| Nationality | German |
| Known for | Supervised preliminary design of the Redstone missile and other short- and intermediate-range ballistic missile systems. |
| Spouse | Frances Thiel |
| Children | 2 sons |
| Awards | Fellow of the American Astronautical Society |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Guided missiles |
| Institutions | United States Army |
Adolf Karl Thiel (also spelledAdolph; February 12, 1915[1] – June 2, 2001 Los Angeles) was anAustrian-bornGerman expert inguided missiles duringWorld War II, and later worked for the United StatesArmy andTRW.[2]
Thiel had been an associate professor of engineering at theInstitute of Technology inDarmstadt before joiningWernher von Braun's team at the Army Research CenterPeenemünde, where he was involved in developing theV-2 rocket.[3] By the end of the war, he was transferred to the United States by the US Army (seeOperation Paperclip andGerman rocket scientists in the US) where he resumed his work with von Braun's group inFort Bliss, Texas. During the nine years Thiel worked for the U.S. Army, he held positions atWhite Sands Missile Range inNew Mexico and atHuntsville, Alabama.[4] He primarily supervised preliminary design of theRedstone missile and other short- and intermediate-range ballistic missile systems.
Thiel left the Army in 1955 to join Space Technology Laboratories, which later became TRW. During the late 1950s, he was program manager for theThor ballistic missile, which became a first-stage launch for theExplorer spacecraft. He was director of space projects for TRW when it developed Explorer VI and Pioneer V, two of the earliest US craft to explore interplanetary space. He oversaw all of TRW's space programs during the 1970s.
After his retirement in 1980 as a senior vice president, Thiel served as an executive consultant to TRW and onNASA planning groups. He was named a fellow of theAmerican Astronautical Society in 1968.[2]
He married Frances Thiel; they had two sons, Mike and Christopher.[5]