Gal, Uziel

Uziel Gal, original name Gotthard Glass, (born Dec. 15, 1923, Weimar, Ger.—died Sept. 7, 2002, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.), Israeli army officer and inventor who designed the Uzi submachine gun, a compact automatic weapon used throughout the world as a police and special-forces firearm.

Uzi submachine gun

To escape the Nazi rise to power, Gal moved to England in 1933 and then to Kibbutz Yagur, in northern Palestine, in 1936. He studied mechanical engineering while imprisoned (1943–45) by the British authorities there for unauthorized firearms possession. On his release he developed weapons for the new Israeli army. In 1954 the Uzi was introduced, and it quickly spread to other markets, securing great profits for Israel, if not for the gun’s designer. Gal produced a weapon that was easy to load, compact, heat- and dust-resistant, and reasonably stable and accurate even when fired automatically. Because of its safety trigger, it was also less hazardous to the user than earlier models.

Gal continued to develop armaments for Israel until his retirement from the military in 1975. In 1976 he moved with his family to the United States to seek extended treatment for a disabled daughter. He was buried at Kibbutz Yagur.