Fred Begay was born July 2, 1932, at Towaoc, Colo. on the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation. His mother Joy Lopez was Dine and Ute and his father Hosteen Begay was Dine. 

Fred attended the Bureau of Indian Affairs Boarding Schools at Ignacio, Colo. (1942-1946) and Albuquerque, New Mexico (1947-1951) where his training was in farming. 

As an non-commissioned officer, Fred served in the US Air Force during 1951-1955 and was assigned to an air-rescue squadron in Korea during the Korean War. 

He attended the University of New Mexico where he earned a bachelor's degree in math and science in 1961, a master's degree in physics in 1963 and a doctorate in nuclear physics in 1971. 

In 1971, Fred 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 (1960-1963; 1965-1972). 

His life has been documented in the following films, Nation within a Nation (Hearst Metrotone News, 1972); In Our Native Land (Sandia Laboratory 1973); The Long Walk of Fred Young-Begay (British Broadcasting Corporation and NOVA, 1978); Dancing with Photons (KNME-TV, 1997). He has also been featured in the National Geographic Magazine (1987, Notable Twentieth Century Scientists, Gale Research, Inc., 1994 and numerous published articles in newspapers, magazines and textbooks.

Fred received the following awards: Ely Parker Award, American Indian Society for Engineering and Science, 1992; Lifetime Achievement Award, National Science Foundation, 1994; Distinguished Scientist Award, Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, 1999. 

FRED BEGAY SR

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