Wernher von Braun was born in Wirsitz, Prussia in 1912. He came from a prussian noble family, and his father served as the local mayor. He studied at Heidelburg University (1930 - 1933), and became a renowned figure in the ammatuer rocket society there. He began experimenting with long range rockets in his spare time and in 1932 he wrote a science paper, entitled "Journey to the Moon", the paper gave a detailed run down of what would be needed to create a lunar rocket, and included a detailed diagram.