The historical timelines show that von Ohain was still a university student when Whittle filed his first patent for a turbojet engine in January 1930, Whittle successfully ran his first engine in April 1937, some 6 months before von Ohain. von Ohain was the first however to fly a turbine powered aircraft.
The first gas turbine to successfully run self-sustainingly was built in 1903 by Norwegian engineer Ęgidius Elling, his first gas turbine patent was granted in 1884.