Fred Begay

Who is Fred Begay?

Fred Begay, also Fred Young or Clever Fox, was a Navajo/Ute nuclear physicist. Begay was born in Towaoc, Colorado on the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation. He was the son of Joy Lopez and Hosteen Begay. As a youth, Begay was trained by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to become a farmer and never graduated from high school. After serving in the Korean War in the US military, he attended the University of New Mexico where he earned a bachelor's degree in math and science in 1961, a master's in physics in 1963 and a Ph.D in physics in 1971. Begay joined the physics staff of Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1971. His work is in the alternative use of laser, electron and ion beams to heat thermonuclear plasmas for use as alternative energy sources. Begay was profiled in the 1979 NOVA documentary, The Long Walk of Fred Young.