Native American Heritage Month, celebrated annually in November, provides an opportunity to examine and recognize the work of indigenous peoples in technology history. One of these Pioneers in Tech is Fred Begay, the first Navajo to earn a PhD in physics.
From Navajo roots to physics pioneer
Fred Begay was born on July 2, 1932, on the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation in Colorado. His parents, both Navajo/Ute healers, named him Clever Fox. He spoke only Navajo and Ute languages until the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) sent him to school at age 10. At the BIA school, he was renamed “Fred Young” and received agricultural training, with no thought that he might pursue a career in science and no regard for his Navajo heritage. After earning a farming certificate, he served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Begay returned to the reservation in 1955, expecting to grow corn on his mother’s 30-acre farm.
But thankfully for physics, the universe had other plans. Federal education money had become available for Navajo veterans and tribal leaders identified Begay as a potential mechanical engineer. He hitchhiked to Albuquerque to enroll in the University of New Mexico, promising that he would attend high school classes at night. He quickly learned German and demonstrated an aptitude for science and math. Then, he changed his name to Fred Begay and changed his major to physics. He graduated in 1961, though he still hadn’t earned a high school diploma. By 1971, he headed to Los Alamos National Laboratory with a doctorate in physics.
Throughout his career, Begay was known for drawing parallels between science and his Navajo heritage. The prayers and songs his parents taught him as a young child rooted him in science. The Navajo culture incorporated abstract ideas, as well as concepts similar to radiation and lasers.
Begay passed away on April 30, 2013. In 1994 he received the National Science Foundation’s Distinguished Scientist Award.
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Photo: tiplyashin / Unsplash
