{{short description|American physiologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Allen O. Gamble | image = File:Allen O. Gamble.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1910|02|08|df=y}} | birth_place = South Korea | death_date = {{Death date and age|2001|04|24|1910|02|08|df=y}} | death_place = Sandy Spring, Maryland | alma_mater = Duke University (BA, 1931)<br/>Birmingham-Southern College (MA, 1933)<br/>University of California, Berkeley (PhD, 1949) | occupation = aeronautical engineer | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Allen Owen Gamble''' (8 February 1910 – 24 April 2001) was an American physiologist. As the associate director of personnel for manpower at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), he oversaw that organization's expansion from 8,000 in the late 1950s to 40,000 in the early 1960s. His activities also included the selection of the Mercury Seven astronauts.
== Biography ==
Allen Owen Gamble was born on 8 February 1910,<ref name="oskicat"/><ref name="ovid">{{cite journal |title=Allen O. Gamble (1910–2001) |journal=American Psychologist |issue=9 |volume=57 |date=September 2002 |page=727 |issn=0003-066X |doi=10.1037/0003-066x.57.9.727c}}</ref> in Korea, where his parents were methodist missionaries.<ref name="wapo">{{cite news |title=Psychologist, NIH Official Allen Gamble |date=26 April 2001 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/04/26/psychologist-nih-official-allen-gamble/bb84a6ec-aa24-47ff-87c3-89dd2ce75dac/?noredirect=on |access-date=4 February 2019 }}</ref> He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University in 1931, and then a Master of Arts from Birmingham Southern College in 1934.<ref name="nasm">{{cite web|title=LTC Allen O. Gamble, Ph.D., USAF |publisher=National Air and Space Museum |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/support/wall-of-honor/ltc-allen-o-gamble-phd-usaf |access-date=4 February 2019 }}</ref>
Gamble began working for the federal government in 1939, taking a position at the Department of Labor in 1939.<ref name="wapo"/> During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy, where he constructed, analyzed and coordinated the testing of naval aviation cadets. He reached the rank of lieutenant commander.<ref name="nasm"/> After the war, he joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) as its manpower director.<ref name="wapo"/> He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1949,<ref name="nasm"/> writing his thesis on "An analytical study of the nature of research work in physical science".<ref name="oskicat">{{cite web |url=http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/record=b12169270~S1 |title=An analytical study of the nature of research work in physical science |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |access-date=4 February 2019 }}</ref> He became a reservist in the U.S. Air Force, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel.<ref name="nasm"/>
In 1955, Gamble moved to the National Science Foundation as director of the national register of scientific and technical personnel.<ref name="ovid"/> He joined the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as its associate director of personnel for manpower in 1959.<ref name="ovid"/> In this role he oversaw that organization's expansion from 8,000 in the late 1950s to 40,000 in the early 1960s. His activities also included the selection of the Mercury Seven astronauts.<ref name="nasm"/> He became the chief of the Manpower Planning and Studies Branch at the National Institutes of Health in 1967, and retired in 1974.<ref name="ovid"/> In later life, Gamble had Parkinson's disease. He died of pneumonia at Brooke Grove Nursing Center in Sandy Spring, Maryland, on 24 April 2001. He was survived by his wife. Edith Long Gamble, and two sisters.<ref name="wapo"/><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/edith-l-gamble-secretary/2014/03/04/52ad60ee-a3d7-11e3-a5fa-55f0c77bf39c_email.html |date=5 March 2014 |title=Edith L. Gamble, secretary |access-date=4 February 2019 }}</ref>
== Notes == {{Reflist}} {{Portal bar|Biography|Spaceflight}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamble, Allen O.}} Category:1910 births Category:2001 deaths Category:NASA people Category:Duke University alumni Category:Birmingham–Southern College alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:United States Air Force colonels Category:20th-century American naval officers Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:American physiologists Category:American expatriates in Korea