Thomas's father Karl, a girls' school director, imbued his son with the fascination of astronomical phenomenology from early on.
In 1907 Oswald Thomas organized a formal registration system for fireball observations in his home town Kronstadt and named this institution Astronomisches Büro (Astronomical Bureau).
[1] His standard presentation Der Himmel über Wien (The Sky Above Vienna) achieved huge popularity.
It was performed over a thousand times, and according to Thomas it provided the inspiration for the first Zeiss planetarium to be set up in the United States (in Chicago).
After World War II Thomas had incessantly pushed for a new Vienna public planetarium, and in 1962 - at the age of 80 years - he was able to participate in the laying of its foundation.