Knowledge without frontiers Knowledge Without Frontiers | Page 46

The August 1929 issue of the magazine Science Wonder Stories.
Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies.
"Space technology
pioneer"
Potočnik’s grave was long believed to be
lost because the cemetery fees had not been
paid and he was thought to have been rebur-
ied elsewhere. But in 2012 the Maribor histori-
an Primož Premzl discovered it at the Semering
Protestant Cemetery in Vienna, where it is now
marked with a gravestone depicting a rotating
circle with the inscription “Space Technology Pi-
oneer”.
The first ever colour illustrations of a space
station in the US were of Potočnik’s station on
the cover of the magazine Science Wonder Sto-
ries in August 1929 – the precise month of Po-
točnik’s untimely death. Frank R. Paul accurately
illustrated all three segments of the station: the
observatory, the support module with a solar ar-
ray, and the circular living unit.
46
SLOVENIAN VISIONARY
“Potočnik was a great visionary and a good
engineer. His ideas about spacecraft were
unique during his time. Slovenians should
celebrate him more, for there are few vision-
aries such as Potočnik. Unfortunately, some
writers designated him as Austrian, Czech,
etc., but we don’t have to be so humble
when it comes to telling the world the truth
and, when justified, brag and state with
pride that Potočnik was a Slovenian vision-
ary.” (Anton Mavretič)