View source for Dichter and Denker

{{Useful Notes}}
[[File:DichterUndDenker.jpg|frame|The "Dichterfürsten" [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] and Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller.]]

{{quote|''"Der liebe Gott hat am Anfang den Franzosen die Herrschaft des Landes gegeben; den Englischen die Herrschaft des Meeres; aber den Deutschen die Herrschaft der Wolken"''.
''"In the beginning, the good God gave to the French the dominion of the land, to the English the dominion of the seas, and to the Germans [[Cloudcuckoolander|the dominion of the clouds.]]"''|Jean-Paul Richter}}

'''''"Das Land der Dichter und Denker"''''' ("The land of poets and thinkers") is a common nickname Germans give their country. The German self-identity has always laid emphasis on a shared culture and language, due to [[All the Little Germanies|Germany not being a unified country at the time nationalism became the latest craze in Europe]]. And because of certain events during the [[Nazi Germany|years 1933 - 1945]], [[Patriotic Fervor|seeking patriotic feelings in military accomplishments (or, as is even often the case, expressing any patriotism at all)]] is [[Old Shame|no longer]] ''[[Old Shame|en vogue]]'' in Germany. This fact has perhaps even strengthened the German [[Proud Scholar Race Guy|emphasis on cultural and scientific achievements]].

It's worth noting that even some Allied wartime propaganda acknowledged this, portraying the Nazis as crushing Germany's widely-admired cultural output with their unsophisticated militarism (this is in contradistinction with most other propaganda both in [[WW 2]] and [[WW 1]], when German ''Kultur'' was depicted as ''being'' brutal Prussian militarism <ref>Notice the club carried by the ape in the [[Unfortunate Implications]] picture</ref>).

And so without further ado, we present you a list of some famous German "Dichter und Denker":

== Dichter ==
=== Actual [[Poetry|Poets]] and Other [[Author|Writers]] ===
* [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] (1749 - 1832) -- Often claimed to be most important German language author. Wrote many poems, ''[[The Sorrows of Young Werther]]'' and an important version of the ''[[Faust]]'' legend. Many phrases originating in his works found their way into everyday German language. Because he [[Renaissance Man|dabbled a bit in botany, anatomy, colour theory, and geology]], he could technically also be listed under ''Scientists'' here.
* Friedrich Schiller (1759 - 1805) -- Best buddy of Goethe. Wrote plays like ''William Tell'', ''Mary Stuart'', and ''The Robbers''. [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|Also you can eat]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20100128024204/http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schillerlocken his hair.] The lyrics to the ''[[Ludwig Van Beethoven|Ode to Joy]]'' were lifted almost word-for-word from one of his poems.
* Jean-Paul (1763 – 1825) -- Born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter. He was noted for his [[German Humour|humorous]] novels and stories, as well as for essays expounding the spirit of German romanticism. His works were translated and popularized in English by Thomas Carlyle. Jean-Paul provides the page quote.
* Jacob (1785 - 1863) and Wilhelm (1786 - 1859) Grimm, <small>AKA</small> the [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|Brothers Grimm]]—The Grimm Bros. are famous for a number of things, among them: 1) Their collection of [[Fairy Tales]], and 2) the ''[[wikipedia:Deutsches Wörterbuch|Deutsches Wörterbuch]]'', a ''reallllllly'' big German dictionary, begun in 1838—the last volume of the first edition was published as late as 1961, with the addition of a source volume in '71.! (As it is not a 'simple' dictionary, but contains detailed information about the etymology and history of the words and language. A 'simple' dictionary more likely to be known by people who speak or learn German would be the ''Duden''.) The Brothers Grimm were portrayed on the [[The Berlin Republic|'90s-version]] of the 1000 Deutsche Mark banknote.
* Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856) -- Among other writings, author of the poem ''Germany. A Winter's Tale'', in which Heine describes satirically his tour through Germany (he emigrated to [[France]] in 1831). Centuries later, the title of Sönke Wortmann's movie ''Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen'' (''Germany. A Summer's Tale'') is a [[Shout-Out]]. [[Isn't It Ironic?|Quite ironic]], [[Fridge Logic|if you think about it for a moment]], given that Wortmann's movie is rather positive, while Heine portrays [[All the Little Germanies|the political atmosphere in his contemporary Germany]] in rather a negative way.
* Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (1797 - 1848) -- One of Germany's most important ''female'' authors. Her most famous work is the murder mystery ''The Jew's Beech''. Also authored the awesomely creepy poem ''[[Swamps Are Evil|The Lad on the Moor]]''. Droste-Hülshoff was portrayed on the [[The Berlin Republic|'90s-version]] of the 20 Deutsche Mark banknote.
* [[Wilhelm Busch]] (1832 - 1908) -- Told his stories using a sequence of pictures. Thus he was one of the pioneers of comics, although he didn't use speech bubbles yet, and the accompanied text was still quite descriptive. His most well known work is the story ''Max and Moritz'', which [[Foreign Remake|directly inspired]] ''[[The Katzenjammer Kids]]'' on the other site of the Big Pond.
* Thomas Mann (1875 - 1955) -- Got a Nobel Prize in Literature for his epic novel ''[[Buddenbrooks]]'', in which he tells the story of a family whose members are largely based on his [[Write Who You Know|own relatives]]. Had to flee from the [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazis]] because of his political views.
** [[Family Guy|Nope, nope, he left to open a Dairy Queen!]]
* [[Bertolt Brecht]] (1898 - 1956) -- Influential due to his plays and his theoretical works regarding theatre. Had to flee from the [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazis]] because of his pro-Communist political views and was brought up before the [[Red Scare|House Un-American Activities Committee]] for the same reason. Later he lived in the [[East Germany|GDR]]. After the government there violently struck down the 1953 uprising, Brecht famously [[Sarcasm Mode|"suggested"]] that [[Deadpan Snarker|the government should dissolve the people and elect another one]]. ([[German Humour|See? Germans DO have a sense of humour!]])

=== [[Musicians]] ===
* Johann Pachelbel (1653 - 1706) -- Baroque composer. Though he was quite prolific, writing some 500 pieces, today he is known almost entirely for his [[Pachelbel's Canon|Canon in D]].
* Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 - 1759), AKA George Frideric Handel—Baroque composer. Although born in Germany, he wrote his most important works while living in Britain (although from Saxony, he was employed by Georg, the Elector of Hanover, when fate decided to turn Elector Georg into [[The House of Hanover|George I of Great Britain]]; he came over with the newly-minted king, and unlike the King-Elector, he liked Britain enough to learn the language and stay). Most famous for composing ''Messiah''.
* [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] (1685 - 1750) -- Baroque composer. Famous for his organ. [[That Came Out Wrong|Er, I mean organ compositions!]] (Although he did actually have ''twenty'' children.)
* [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] (1756 - 1791) -- Classical composer and [[Child Prodigy]], who at the age of five was composing music and performing before European royalty. Please note that while Mozart's native city Salzburg nowadays belongs to [[Austria]], it didn't at the time, and anyways everyone was considered to be a subset of the amorphous 'German group' during his time (since there was no united Germany).
* [[Ludwig Van Beethoven]] (1770 - 1827) -- Ta ta ta taaa!! Classical composer. Wrote the ''Ode to Joy'' (lyrics: Friedrich Schiller, ''see above''), nowadays the hymn of the [[European Union]]. Gradually went deaf, [[Handicapped Badass|but that didn't stop him from composing more and more stuff]].
* [[Richard Wagner]] (1813 - 1883) -- Yet ''another'' classical composer! This one is famous for his operas. Due to [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] being a big fan of Wagner (and unfortunately also due to Wagner being virulently, if inconsistently, anti-Semitic himself), the first performance of a Wagner opera in [[Israel]] was [[Banned in China|as late as 2001]]!

=== [[Artists|Painters]] ===
* Albrecht Dürer (1471 - 1528) -- Created many interesting pictures, showing such diverse things as the [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse]], praying hands, a rhino, a hare, a piece of turf (such mundane motifs were still very uncommon in his time), and a self-portrait in which he points at the spot were it hurts (it was for his physician). Motifs by Dürer could be seen on the [[The Bonn Republic|'60s-'80s-versions]] of the 5 and 20 Deutsche Mark banknotes.
* Hans Holbein (the Younger) (''ca''. 1498 - 1543) -- A great portrait-painter, perhaps most famous for his meticulously detailed paintings of a number of personalities from the [[The House of Tudor|Tudor]] court (including [[Henry VIII]] himself) in [[Pimped-Out Dress]], which Holbein painted while in England.
* Caspar David Friedrich (1774 - 1840) -- A master of the Early Romantic period, which his mysterious, symbolic landscapes—sometimes featuring Gothic ruins and often featuring human figures turned ''away'' from the viewer—perfectly embody. His works seem to turn up frequently on the covers of [[Horror]] fictions.
* Carl Spitzweg (1808 - 1885) -- Famous for his paintings showing [[German Humour|humorous scenes]], making good-natured fun of his contemporaries during the conservative ''Biedermeier''-era [[All the Little Germanies|(the time between the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and the European Revolutions in 1848)]].
* Franz Marc (1880 - 1916) -- Important member of the expressionist movement and co-founder (together with the Russian Wassily Kandinsky) of the artist group ''Der blaue Reiter'' (''The Blue Rider''). Most well known are probably his many paintings depicting horses. He sadly died relatively young during the [[World War I|Battle of Verdun]].

=== Architects ===
* Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781 - 1841) -- If you visit [[Berlin]] and you see a building that looks sorta like a Greek temple (this style is called ''[[Retraux|classicism]]''), your chances are high that this building was designed by this guy.
* Leo von Klenze (1784 - 1864) -- Who also was a writer and a painter. Left his big footprint primarily in Munich, where he constructed e.g. the ''Ruhmeshalle'' beneath the ''[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Bavaria_2.jpg Bavaria]'' and the ''[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Glyptothek_1900.jpg Glyptotheque]''. However, he also constructed the [http://www.imagetours.de/wpblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/Staedte_Landschaften/eremitage_sankt_petersburg.jpg New Eremitage in St. Petersburg].
* Walter Gropius (1883 - 1969) -- Founder of the ''Bauhaus'' movement. Had an affair with the wife of the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler, and even married her after Mahler's death. Had to flee from the [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazis]], because they didn't like the ''Bauhaus''-style. They considered modern art in general to be ''Entartete Kunst'' (''[[Hatedom|Degenerate Art]]''). Though another detractor of the Bauhaus design school was one Frank Lloyd Wright, who described Gropius' designs as "soulless".
* Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886 - 1969) -- A disciple of Gropius, he didn't have much time to design anything in Germany before the Nazis forced him to leave; he was the last director of the ''Bauhaus''. He brought the ''Bauhaus'' style to America and designed some very simple, elegant buildings across [[The Windy City|Chicago]], where he settled down. To this day, Chicago has the nicest collection of International Style buildings in the United States. His minimalist style is neatly summed up by his three-word motto, "Less is more".

== Denker ==

=== Philosophers ===
* Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 - 1716) -- Very important philosopher, theorized that we live in the [[Best of All Possible Worlds]]. Like many of his contemporaries, [[Renaissance Man|he dabbled in many fields nowadays categorized under "science"]]. Notorious is his dispute with none other than his English colleague [[Isaac Newton]] over the question of who of them invented calculus. (You know that elongated S used in calculus notation? Leibniz invented this symbol.) Also important was his pioneer work in computer science. Oh, and there exists a German brand of biscuit named after him. (''[[Bilingual Bonus|Nur echt mit 52 Zähnen!]]'')
* Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804) -- Formulated the categorical imperative as part of his writings on morality. (''[[The Golden Rule|Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law]].'') Also, spent his whole life in Königsberg ([[Please Select New City Name|nowadays Kaliningrad]]).
* Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 - 1831) -- Developed a system of thought which encompassed politics, religion, history and logic, much of it in terms that are [[Lost in Translation|famously awful to translate]]. Critic of Kant. Notably, he theorized that the whole of human history is leading up to a grand awakening of spiritual unity and absolute knowledge. For a while, [[Broken Base|followers clashed on whether or not we were already there]].
* Karl Marx (1818 - 1883) -- [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Father of Marxism]], which eventually shaped communism. [[Dirty Commies|Because of this]], [[Historical Villain Upgrade|some people see him in a rather negative light]], [[Historical Hero Upgrade|others in far too rosy a light]]. [[Name's the Same|Not related]] to [[Marx Brothers|Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo or Gummo]].
** Friedrich Engels (1820 - 1895) -- A good friend of Karl Marx and co-wrote the Manifesto with him. He also edited the 2nd and 3rd editions of ''Das Kapital'' after Marx died. Considered the co-founder of Communism, ironically came from quite a rich family.
* [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] (1844 - 1900) -- [[Also Sprach Zarathustra|(Dah dah dah... Tadah! Bom-bom, bom-bom...)]] Not a [[Nietzsche Wannabe]], because he was the real one. His concept of the ''[[Ubermensch|Übermensch]]'' was abused by the [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazis]] and also may have inspired [[Superman|two certain young American comic authors]]. ''über'' (''over'', ''above'') has even found its way into contemporary English slang. Nietzsche also was of the opinion that [[God Is Dead|the supreme Judeo-Christian entity has passed away]]. He<ref>Nietzsche, not God</ref> died in a [[Bedlam House|madhouse]].
* Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) -- Philosopher of history and a bit of [[Renaissance Man]]. Strongly influenced by both Goethe and Nietzsche. Best known for his book ''[[The Decline of the West]]'', which proposes that all the great human cultures go through a thousand-year cycle, after which they either stagnate or wilt and die. Very critical of the [[Weimar Republic]], but didn't like [[The Nazis]] that much either - after meeting Hitler in 1933, he stated that [Germany doesn't need a] "heroic tenor but a real hero."
* Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) -- Building off of the works of Nietzsche, he ended up with a unique—and [[Mind Screw|impossible to describe]]—philosophy of his own. During the Nazi period, he actually became a Nazi, for which he never repented after [[World War II|the war]]. Despite the Nazism, he had quite the case of [[Matzo Fever]], having stormy affairs with his Jewish students Hannah Arendt and Elisabeth Blochmann; of course, this was justified, in that he shared Nietzsche's disdain for anti-Semitism, and arguably he joined the Nazis on the misconception that they had any principles besides hating the Jews (and the Poles and the Russians and...).

=== Theologians and Clerics ===
* Hildegard of Bingen (1098 - 1179) -- Called the Sybil of the Rhine and Germany's First Woman Scientist, was a Catholic mystic, Benedictine abbess, author, linguist, naturalist, scientist, philosopher, physician, herbalist, poet, and composer. She wrote theological, botanical and medicinal texts, letters, poems, dramas, and [[Ominous Latin Chanting|liturgical music]] which has had a resurgence in popularity in recent years.
* Albertus Magnus (''ca''. 1200 - 1280) -- <small>AKA</small> Albert the Great, Albert of Cologne, and "The Universal Doctor", was a Dominican friar, bishop of Regensburg, scholar, philosopher, and [[Religion Is Magic|reputed magician]], in which capacity he or his spell-books tend to show up in fiction. Albert was canonized and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1931 by [[The Pope|Pope Pius XI]].
* Nikolaus von Kues (1401 - 1464) -- <small>AKA</small> Nicholas Cusanus, was a Catholic cardinal, as well as a philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and an astronomer (in which capacity, he was an early advocate for heliocentrism and the elliptical orbits of the planets). He is noted as a profound writer on mysticism.
* Martin Luther (1483 - 1546) -- His criticisms regarding the Catholic Church triggered the founding of Protestantism. Also, together with his buddy Melanchthon, he translated the Bible into German. [[The Dark Side|Unfortunately, some of his own writings are unambiguously anti-Semitic.]] [[Name's the Same|Not to be confused]] with [[Martin Luther King Jr|this]] other historically important Protestant minister!
* Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 - 1945) -- Lutheran pastor and German Resistance member during the time of [[Nazi Germany]] and double-agent of the Abwehr. Considered by some to be a [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] because of his [[wikipedia:Dietrich Bonhoeffer#Legacy|''unconventional'' views on Christian religion]]. Also he was an important inspiration for [[Martin Luther King Jr|Dr. King]].
* Joseph Alois Ratzinger (1927 - ) -- A well established theologian, Ratzinger taught matters of Catholic theology at the University of Tübingen for years as a reformist. It's said he acquired a 'slight' conservative bent while on the job. He left after a series of promotions. Nowadays he goes by the moniker [[The Pope|Pope Benedict XVI]].

=== [[Herr Doktor|Scientists]] ===
* Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 - 1717) -- Female naturalist [[Stay in the Kitchen|during a time when this was still very unusual]]. Did an expedition to Surinam and was the first to research the metamorphosis of caterpillars into butterflies in great detail. Also showed artistic talent by drawing her objects of study. Was portrayed on the [[The Berlin Republic|'90s-version]] of the 500 Deutsche Mark banknote.
* Alexander von Humboldt (1769 -1859) -- Naturalist, famous for his scientific expeditions, mainly to [[Latin America|South America]]. Like Goethe, he was quite [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist|omnidisciplinary]].
* Carl Friedrich Gauß (1777 - 1855) -- Nicknamed ''Prince of Mathematicians'', most famous for the ''Gaussian Distribution'' (also called ''Normal Distribution''—the one with the characteristic bell-shape).[[wikipedia:List of topics named after Carl Friedrich Gauss|A lot of other mathematics-related stuff is named after him too.]] Was portrayed (with a picture of the graph of the distribution) on the [[The Berlin Republic|'90s-version]] of the 10 Deutsche Mark banknote.
* Gregor Johann Mendel (1822 - 1884) -- Nicknamed ''Father of Genetics''. Scientist and Augustinian priest. Famous for his incredibly long-winded and statistical study of the inheritance of certain traits of pea plants, leading to his discovery of the Mendelian Laws named after him, which established genetics as a science.
* Max Planck (1858 - 1947) -- The father of quantum physics. Named after him are the ''Planck Constant'' and the ''Planck Units''. Also didn't like how the [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazis]] treated Jewish physicists, and tried to help out Fritz Haber and others.
* Fritz Haber (1868 - 1934) -- Speaking of whom, Haber is a primary reason the 20th and 21st centuries have so many people and so many interesting ways to kill them: Haber discovered the revolutionary [[wikipedia:Haber process|Haber process]] for synthesizing ammonia from nothing more than hydrogen (which can be obtained easily from natural gas and less easily, but still fairly cost-effectively, from the electrolysis of water) and atmospheric nitrogen (no prizes for guessing where that comes from). Ammonia can then be used to make nitrates and nitrites—key ingredients in both fertilizer and explosives (including all forms of gunpowder), sparing countries the embarrassment of literally fighting wars over [[wikipedia:Guano|bird poop]] to make these vital products. He also did serious research into the military applications of chemistry, particularly during [[World War I]], leading to the unfortunate nickname ''Father of Chemical Warfare'' (although in fairness, he also helped develop the gas mask). A patriotic German decorated by the Kaiser, he was (being Jewish) nevertheless run out of Germany when the Nazis took over (leaving with Planck's help), and died in 1934 in Switzerland, never living to see Zyklon-B (a product of his laboratory underlings) [[Irony|be used to kill thousands of Jews]].
* Otto Hahn (1879 - 1968) -- Discovered nuclear fission, together with Lise Meitner and Fritz Straßmann, and later became a [[Must Make Amends|vigorous opponent]] of [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|nuclear weapons]]. He later caught a lot of flack for claiming more of the discovery than some said was his due; he got a particularly bad reputation with the Jewish community, as (unlike Straßmann), he did little to protect Jewish scientists (including Meitner) when the Nazis went after them (Straßmann, for the record, is considered among the Righteous Among the Nations, so Jews, feel free to say, "Screw Otto Hahn").
* [[Albert Einstein]] (1879 - 1955) -- Did have a cool [[Einstein Hair|hair style]]. His ''Theory of Relativity'' revolutionized physics. Had to flee from the [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazis]] because he was a Jew. The Nazis even denounced modern physics as "Jewish physics" and tried to replace it with their own "Aryan physics". Needless to say, this approach didn't lead anywhere.
* Alfred Wegener (1880 - 1930) -- Developed the theory of ''Continental Drift''. Sadly, Wegener's theory [[Cassandra Truth|wasn't widely accepted]] until after his death (during an expedition to Greenland, by the way).
* Werner Heisenberg (1901 - 1976) -- Quantum physicist. Because he was a proponent of Einsteinian physics (Why did the Nazis consider that bad? ''See above!''), some [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazis]] considered him a "white Jew". Nevertheless, he stayed in Germany, where he had to research nuclear physics. His ''Uncertainty Principle'' has become [http://dresdencodak.com/2005/06/14/lil-werner/ a stock element of nerd humour], right up there next to [[Schrödinger's Cat]]. Also, the [[Star Trek|Heisenberg compensator]] is named after him.

=== [[Germanic Efficiency|Engineers]] ===
* Johannes Gutenberg, born as Johannes Gensfleisch (1398 - 1468) -- Invented movable type printing<ref>Or rather re-invented: it had been known in East Asia for centuries, but was rendered utterly useless by the nature of East Asian writing. A typical printer needs to keep anywhere from half a dozen to dozens of copies of each character in order to print. This is difficult enough with the Latin alphabet's 26 letters; imagine that with the 3,000+ characters of Chinese, or the ~1,000 Japanese Kanji. (Hangul doesn't count, as it was invented four years ''after'' Gutenberg's press).</ref> and the mechanical printing press. From now on, mass-production of books and other writings was possible.
* Philipp Reis (1834 - 1874) -- Inventor of the telephone! Well, actually, the answer to the question "Who ''exactly'' invented the telephone?" is [[wikipedia:Invention of the telephone|a bit complicated]]. Reiss' device was the first to be actually called ''Telephon''.
* Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin (1838 - 1917) -- [[The Von Trope Family|An actual count]] (which is what ''Graf'' means) who invented the type of [[Cool Airship|airship]] named after him. Although the popularity of airships did considerably shrink [[Hindenburg|for some reason]], the company founded by Graf von Zeppelin (after decades of producing airship-unrelated stuff) [[Zeppelins from Another World|has started to construct new Zeppelins since the 1990s]].
* Karl Benz (1844 - 1929) -- Added a combustion engine to a carriage and thus invented the car as it is known today, (or at least was the first to patent this contraption). The ''Daimler-Benz'' company (Gottlieb Daimler being another German automobile pioneer, and one of the competitors regarding the "Who exactly invented the car?"-issue) as well as the trademark ''Mercedes Benz'' bear his name.
* Willy Messerschmitt (1898 - 1978) -- [[Nazis With Gnarly Weapons|Built airplanes for the Nazis.]] The fact that his planes (along with Ferdinand Porsche's ground vehicles) were (''in their time!'') considered high-tech, probably gave rise to [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|this trope]]. After the war, Messerschmitt was in prison for two years (put on trial for using slave labour and convicted as "fellow traveller"). After his release it was not allowed to produce airplanes, so instead his company produced sewing machines, pressing irons, prefabricated buildings—and [[wikipedia:Messerschmitt KR200|little cars that looked like airplane cockpits]]!
* Konrad Zuse (1910 - 1995) -- Inventor of the computer! Well, actually, the answer to the question "Who ''exactly'' invented the computer?" is a bit complicated, but Zuse's [[wikipedia:Z3 (computer)|Z3]] is a serious competitor for the title ''World's First Computer''. The original Z3 was [[World War Two|destroyed during an Allied air raid]], but a fully functioning replica was built in the 1960's for the ''Deutsches Museum'', by a company founded by Zuse himself after the war. And it is definitely true that his computers used the [[Binary Bits and Bytes|binary system]], the floating point system and the clear seperation of RAM and hard disk before American computers did.
* Wernher "[[Tom Lehrer|Not My Department]]" von Braun (1912 - 1977) -- Rocket pioneer who is very controversial due to his cooperating with the [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazis]] and even entering the NSDAP (the Nazi Party) and the SS. His lifelong dream was human space exploration, and apparently he was of the opinion that [[For Science!|the end justifies the means]]. The result was that instead of transporting people into space, his rockets were used to bombard [[London]]. More people died building the V-2 rockets than were killed by it as a weapon. After the [[World War II|war]], [[Easily Forgiven|he and other scientists were brought to the United States]], [[Karma Houdini|where he became a key figure in the American space program]]. The "[[No Name Given|Program Head]]" in the film ''[[The Right Stuff]]'' is based loosely on him, as is [[Dr. Strangelove]].

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Useful Notes/Germany]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]