World fame thanks to centrifugal force

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The rotor just behind the iconic entrance gate of Luna Park Sydney is an absolute institution.

The rotor, invented by German engineer Ernst Walter Hoffmeister, still fascinates people today, as it did at its world premiere in 1949 at the Munich Oktoberfest.


Thanks to the physical principle of centrifugal force, people have been sticking to the wall like flies in the Rotor for 70 years.

Mechanical engineer Ernst Walter Hoffmeister, born in Essen in 1901, had the idea of an attraction in Ebern in Lower Franconia at the end of the 1940s that would earn him fame. After its premiere at the Munich Oktoberfest in 1949, the rotor ushered in a new era of German carousel construction and quickly became a worldwide sensation.
In Australia, visitors to Luna Park since 1951 have either been able to experience the effect of approx. 3 g forces themselves in the open spinning drum, or watch the action from above together with other onlookers.

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World fame thanks to centrifugal force | SBS German