Uziel Gal

Uziel Gal was born in 1923 in Weimar

Gal was born Gotthard Glas in Weimar, Germany, in 1923. His Jewish father Erich was an artist who shared his interest in weapons. His parents divorced when he was a child, and he lived with his mother.

In 1933, after the Nazis came to power, he was sent to England with his school, while his father moved to Palestine. In 1936 he joined his father at kibbutz Yagur and went to school in Nesher. At 15 he built a bow that shot arrows automatically.

He joined the Palmach and worked on weapons. In 1943 the British caught him with weapon parts and sentenced him to 7 years in Acre Prison, but he was pardoned and released in July 1946. He then fought in the War of Independence.

After officer training in 1949, he worked on a new submachine gun to replace the Sten. The Uzi was chosen over the rival K-12 design because it cost less, and he patented it in 1952. In 1958 he became the first person to receive the Israel Security Prize.

In 1976 he moved to Philadelphia so his daughter Tamar could get medical treatment. There he kept designing weapons, including the Ruger MP9. He died of cancer in 2002 and was buried at Yagur.