Fred Begay

{{Short description|Native American nuclear physicist (1932–2013)}}{{Infobox scientist | name = Fred Begay | image = BegayFred.jpg | caption = Photo of Dr. Fred Begay distributed on the occasion of his election to the New York Academy of Sciences. | birth_date = {{Birth date|1932|07|02}} | birth_place = Towaoc, Colorado | death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|04|30|1932|07|02}} | citizenship = Navajo, Ute | fields = Nuclear physics | alma_mater = University of New Mexico (B.S, M.S., PhD) | thesis_title = Development of the OSO-6 High-Energy Neutron Detector and Correlation of Measured Solar Neutron Fluxes to Solar Flares | thesis_url = https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1105&context=phyc_etds | thesis_year = 1971 | doctoral_advisor = C.P. Leavitt | spouse = Helen Smith | children = 8 }}

'''Fred Begay''' (July 2, 1932 – April 30, 2013), also '''Fred Young''' or '''Clever Fox''', was a Navajo/Ute nuclear physicist.<ref name=":0">[http://www.lapahie.com/Fred_Young.cfm Fred Begay.] lapahie.com. Accessed 2011-08-15.</ref> Begay was born in Towaoc, Colorado on the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation.<ref name="cin">[http://www.nrcprograms.org/site/PageServer?pagename=cin_bio_fredbegay Fred Begay.] Council of Indian Nations. Accessed 2011-08-15.</ref> His work was in the alternative use of laser, electron and ion beams to heat thermonuclear plasmas for use as alternative energy sources.<ref name="cin"/>

== Early life == Fred Begay was born in Towaoc, Colorado, on the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation.<ref name="cin" /> He was the son of Joy Lopez (Navajo, Ute) and Hosteen Begay (Navajo). Fred Begay was only six when his mother and father, both Navajo healers, began teaching him the songs of the Blessingway ceremony.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2005/na/bio_fred.htm|title=Ancient Observatories {{!}} Native American Connections {{!}} Biographies {{!}} Fred Begay|website=sunearthday.nasa.gov|access-date=2017-11-26}}</ref> Begay spoke both Indigenous languages from his mother and father but did not learn English until age 10, when he attended a Bureau of Indian Affairs school in Ignacio, Colorado. The teachers there trained him to be a farmer until he turned 18.

Never graduating, he enlisted in the Army and went to fight in the Korean War. Fred served in the US Air Force during 1951-1955 and was assigned to an air-rescue squadron in Korea. In 1952, he married Helen Smith from Shiprock. When he came home in 1955, he returned to his mother's 30-acre farm with the intention of growing corn and raising children. Helen and Fred Begay had eight children: Fred Jr, Joyce, William, Janet, Terry, Christina, John and Carolyn.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/lamonitor/obituary.aspx?n=fred-begay&pid=164723406|title=Dr. Fred Begay's Obituary on Los Alamos Monitor|website=Los Alamos Monitor|access-date=2017-11-26}}</ref>

== Science career == Begay attended the University of New Mexico (UNM), where he earned a bachelor's degree in math and science with honors in 1961.<ref>{{Cite book |last=St. John |first=Jetty |title=Native American Scientists |publisher=Capstone Press Mankato |year=1996 |isbn=1-56065-359-0 |pages=25 |chapter=Chapter 4 Fred Begay}}</ref> He got master's degree in physics in 1963 and a doctorate in nuclear physics in 1971.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2005/na/bio_fred.htm|title=Ancient Observatories {{!}} Native American Connections {{!}} Biographies {{!}} Fred Begay|website=sunearthday.nasa.gov|access-date=2017-12-08}}</ref> He joined the physics staff of Los Alamos National Laboratory. He was also part of a NASA-funded space physics research team at UNM to conduct fundamental studies on the origin of high energy gamma rays and solar neutrons from 1960-1963 and again from 1965-1972.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/lamonitor/obituary.aspx?n=fred-begay&pid=164723406|title=Dr. Fred Begay's Obituary on Los Alamos Monitor|website=Los Alamos Monitor|access-date=2017-12-08}}</ref> He also held research and teaching fellowships at Stanford University and the University of Maryland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.compadre.org/careers/physicists/Detail.cfm?id=1541|title=Fred Begay - Physicist Profile Detail Page|website=www.compadre.org|language=en|access-date=2017-12-08}}</ref> Begay also had a tenure of nearly 30 years in the Los Alamos National Laboratory's laser program.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2005/na/bio_fred.htm|title=Ancient Observatories {{!}} Native American Connections {{!}} Biographies {{!}} Fred Begay|website=sunearthday.nasa.gov|access-date=2017-12-09}}</ref>

Begay was profiled in the 1979 NOVA documentary ''The Long Walk of Fred Young''.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/rr/mopic/findaid/indian2.html American Indians on Film & Video: Documentaries in the Library of Congress.] Accessed 2011-08-15.</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Dr. Fred Begay Obituary|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/lamonitor/obituary.aspx?pid=164723406|accessdate=21 September 2015|agency=LA Monitor|date=12 May 2013}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Begay, Fred}} Category:1932 births Category:2013 deaths Category:American nuclear physicists Category:United States Air Force personnel of the Korean War Category:Navajo scientists Category:Los Alamos National Laboratory personnel Category:People from Montezuma County, Colorado Category:University of New Mexico alumni Category:Physicists from Colorado Category:20th-century Native American scientists Category:21st-century Native American scientists