|
|
About · Contact · Help · Desk · ⚙ · 3,564 articles | Contents · A–Ž index |
This logo is missing!
If you have it, please email it to us.
25 Feb 2016
The opening of the Herman Potočnik Noordung memorial room, organised in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia Moscow,
1 May 2010
31 Oct 2010
Slovene Pavillion at Expo 2010 Shanghai featuring Herman Potočnik Noordung, Starck with Riko, Primož Trubar and World Book Capital Ljubljana 2010, with contributions by Oskar Kogoj, Matej Andraž Vogrinčič, and Slavoj Žižek
Cosmonaut Jurij Baturin speaks on the opening of his exhibition Meeting With Earth (2009)
The Herman Potočnik Noordung Memorial Centre is a one-artefact-museum – the Herman Potočnik Noordung's book Problem of Space Travel (1929). Memorial room slightly resembles to what interior would be like in space observatory. Due to lack of physical memorabilia about his life, interior of observatory capsule presents videos with statements of renowned historians, cosmonauts and astronauts for instance: Tatjana Nikolajevna Zhelnina, Pavel Klushantsev, Jurij Baturin, Roger Launius, Frederick I. Ordway III, and sir Arthur C. Clarke. Clarke introduced Potočnik's design of the wheel space station to Stanley Kubrick who used it (uncredited) in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969).
A visionary with an extraordinary technological imagination and an astounding philosophy of existence, Herman Potočnik Noordung was the author of the first strategic plan for the human exploration of space, whose predictions enjoy growing confirmation with each new extra-terrestrial accomplishment in the modern era. Born in 1892 to Slovene parents in Pula, Croatia, he spent World War I as a first lieutenant, assisting in the construction of railway lines and bridges on the Soča and Piava rivers. In 1925 he completed his engineering and electro-technical studies in Vienna with the title Specialist in Rocket Technology. Years of dire economic hardship and illness coincided with his design of a futuristic rocket and exploration of space-travel technology. Despite the setbacks the first notes for a book emerged, inspired by the writings of German rocket scientist Hermann Oberth. By 1928 Noordung had completed a rough draft of all the chapters, and in 1929, shortly before his death, the book Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums was published. Running to 188 pages and featuring 100 of his own drawings, it discusses gravity and ways of overcoming it, looks at the space technology used in everyday life, contemplates the efficiency of the rocket while warning against its possible misuse for military purposes, and envisions a geostationary satellite that would circle around the globe indefinitely with enviable precision. The concluding thought of the fourth and last segment of Potočnik's book is about the drive for nuclear and photonic technology which would make it possible to travel to nearby planets in our universe. The book considered space travel not as mere day-dreaming but as a very real technological possibility.
Since the inception the Herman Potočnik Noordung Memorial Centre Vitanje the concept and related events have been closely linked to the artistic endeavours of the Noordung Cosmokinetic Cabinet and developed by Dragan Živadinov (Merger of Art and Science), Dunja Zupančič (Postgravity Art) and Miha Turšič (Culturalisation of Space).
The Centre has occasionally hosted the astronauts (e.g. Christer Fuglesang, Sunita Williams) and other prominent guests. In May and June 2009 Memorial Centre hosted exhibition of Russian scientist and cosmonaut Jurij Baturin with the title Meeting With Earth.
Culture.si offers information on Slovene cultural producers, venues, festivals and support services, all in one place. It encourages international cultural exchange in the fields of arts, culture and heritage. The portal and its content is owned and funded by the Ministry of Culture, funded by the European Union Recovery and Resilience Plan and developed by Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory.