Carl Oskar Ursinus was a pioneer of German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 aviation

Aviation

Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

 and is remembered mainly for his contributions to sailplane designs and the sport of gliding

Gliding

Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s...

. He has been nickname

Nickname

A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....

d the Rhönvater ("Rhön father") because he founded Germany’s first gliding club at the Wasserkuppe

Wasserkuppe

The Wasserkuppe is a high plateau , the highest peak in the Rhön Mountains within the German state of Hessen. Between the first and second World Wars, during the era of the so-called Golden Age of Aviation, great advances in sailplane development were made there.Remark: The German wording takes its...

 in the Rhön Mountains

Rhön Mountains

The Rhön Mountains are a group of low mountains in central Germany, located around the border area where the states of Hesse, Bavaria and Thuringia come together. These mountains, which are at the extreme southeast end of the East Hesse Highlands , are partly a result of ancient volcanic activity...

 in 1920.

Ursinus was born in Weißenfels

Weißenfels

Weißenfels is the largest town of the Burgenlandkreis district, in southern Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, approximately south of Halle.-History:...

 and attended Technical College in Mittweida

Mittweida

Mittweida is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, in the Mittelsachsen district. It is situated on the Zschopau River, 18 km north of Chemnitz, and 54 km west of Dresden....

. After graduation, he worked for Borsig on compressors

Gas compressor

A gas compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume.Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the pressure on a fluid and both can transport the fluid through a pipe. As gases are compressible, the compressor also reduces the volume of a gas...

 for locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

s and spent some time working on mining machinery in Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 for the firm.

In 1908, back in Germany, Ursinus began to publish a magazine titled Flugsport (“Sports Flying”), since he had become fascinated by the new technology of flight.