Grant O. Gale

Who was Grant O. Gale?

Grant Oscar Gale was the S.S. Williston Professor of physics at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, the curator of Grinnell's Physics Historical Museum, and the namesake of the Grant O. Gale Observatory on the Grinnell campus.

In 1928 Gale came to the college as an instructor in physics, and eventually became Professor of Physics. Until his death in 1998 he collected science equipment which had become obsolete and maintained a series of exhibits which now form the core of Grinnell's Physics Historical Museum.

One of Gale's most noted students was Robert Noyce, co-inventor of the integrated circuit and founder of Intel. While a student at Grinnell, Noyce stole a pig from a nearby farmer for a college luau and then slaughtered it in Clark Hall. The prank would have earned him expulsion, if not for Gale's intervention. Gale was also the physics instructor for Grinnell music student Herbie Hancock.

The large "Alpha and Omega Sundial" which sits next to the Noyce Science Center on the Grinnell College campus is named in honor of Gale's wife Harriet.