Born in the lovely town of Pula to a staunchly Slovene family, Herman Potočnik entered this world on December 22^nd, 1892. His father, a high ranking navy officer in the Austro-Hungarian navy and a doctor, passed away when Herman was only two, so the family upped and moved back to Slovenia. They headed to the village of Vitanje, then to Slovenia's second largest city, Maribor. Between the years 1910 and 1913 he went to study at a technical military academy near Vienna, where he graduated as an engineers second lieutenant specializing in the building of railways and bridges.

It was in this very same area that he would come to the fore in World War One. He served in Galicia as well as Serbia and Bosnia, and was one of the finest bridge and railway construction experts going. He was eventually assigned to the South-Western Soča front, before being pensioned off in 1919 because he contracted tuberculosis.

Following his military retirement he went back into academics, studying electrical engineering in Vienna where he would begin studying rockets. From 1925 onwards this interest would take on the role of obsession, and he became completely devoted to rocket science and the question of Space. He was always ill, he never had any money, he never really had a job and he certainly never married. He spent most of his retirement living with brother in Vienna. Despite all this, he left an indelible mark on the world.

Going by the pseudonym Herman Noordung, he only ever published a single book. Entitled 'Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums: der Raketen Motor' ('The Problem of Space Travel: The Rocket Motor'), this 188-page book planned a permanent human presence in space, including the detailed design of a space station that would orbit the earth. It was the first example of space architecture, and would be the groundwork for eventual exploration of space. Viennese engineers described his plans as pure fantasy.

His book delved into finding a way to overcome gravity, an idea way ahead of its time. He looked at ways of using space technology in every day life, all the while warning against its misuse for military purposes. Potočnik envisioned the geostationary satellite that would eventually orbit the globe. This was space travel as a real possibility, not just the daydreaming of a poor and unwell engineer. He made it a scientific possibility.

Similar to Nikola Tesla, he conceived future technology way ahead of its time, and was met with giggles and derision. His influence would grow after his death however, and his book and plans were instrumental in the work of Wernher von Braun, the first director of NASA. Von Braun described Potočnik was the 'catalyst' for space technology. His idea for a space station would directly influence Stanley Kubrick in the film '2001: A Space Odyssey'.

Still, this probably mattered little to ol' Potočnik, as he died miserable and poor in Vienna at the age of 36. Much like Prešeren, Potočnik's life wasn’t a happy one, but the mark he left can't be denied.