Gale J. Young (1912–1990) was an American engineer, mathematical physicist, biophysicist, and applied mathematician. He is known as a pioneer of nuclear engineering and as one of the namesakes of the Eckart-Young theorem in

linear algebra Linear algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning linear equations such as :a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n=b, linear maps such as :(x_1, \ldots, x_n) \mapsto a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n, and their representations in vector spaces and through matrix (mathemat ...

Education and career

He graduated in 1933 with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. At the University of Chicago he became in 1933 a graduate student in physics and received in 1936 a master's degree in mathematical physics. He continued to be affiliated with the University of Chicago until 1940 when he became the head of the physics and mathematics departments at

Olivet College The University of Olivet, formerly known as Olivet College, is a private Christian college in Olivet, Michigan, United States. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It was founded in 1844 by missionaries from Oberlin Coll ...

in Michigan. In early 1942 he returned to Chicago to work in

Eugene Wigner Eugene Paul Wigner (, ; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who also contributed to mathematical physics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his contributions to the theory of th ...

's Theoretical Group developing nuclear reactors. Wigner claimed that Gale Young was his "main helper in 1942 in designing a nuclear pile cooled by water." From 1942 to 1946 Young was a research associate on the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...

at the University of Chicago's

Metallurgical Laboratory The Metallurgical Laboratory (or Met Lab) was a scientific laboratory from 1942 to 1946 at the University of Chicago. It was established in February 1942 and became the Argonne National Laboratory in July 1946. The laboratory was established i ...

(Met Lab). He later shared the patent for the design of water-cooled nuclear reactors. In 1946 he joined Wigner at the Clinton Laboratories, which was renamed Clinton National Laboratory in late 1947 and again renamed in January 1948 as

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1943, the laboratory is sponsored by the United Sta ...

(ORNL). In 1948 Young and John R. Menke (1919–2009) founded Nuclear Development Associates (NDA), Inc., the first privately owned nuclear firm. Menke was the president and Young was the research director. When NDA was taken over by the United Nuclear Company, Young remained with the company until 1962. In 1962 he returned to ORNL as an assistant laboratory director, working on non-military applications of nuclear energy, especially desalination of seawater.

Selected publications

* (statement and proof of the Eckart-Young theorem) * * * * (See

Julius Bernstein Julius Bernstein (18 December 1839 – 6 February 1917) was a German physiologist born in Berlin. His father was Aaron Bernstein (1812–1884), a founder of the Reform Judaism Congregation in Berlin 1845; his son was the mathematician Felix Ber ...

.) *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Gale J. 1912 births 1990 deaths People from Berrien County, Michigan Manhattan Project people Oak Ridge National Laboratory people Milwaukee School of Engineering alumni University of Chicago alumni 20th-century American physicists 21st-century American physicists American nuclear physicists American nuclear engineers