Allen O. Gamble

Allen Owen Gamble (8 February 1910 – 24 April 2001) was an American physiologist. As the associate director of personnel for manpower at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), he oversaw that organization's expansion from 8,000 in the late 1950s to 40,000 in the early 1960s. His activities also included the selection of the Mercury Seven astronauts.

Biography

Allen Owen Gamble was born on 8 February 1910, in Korea, where his parents were methodist missionaries. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University in 1931, and then a Master of Arts from Birmingham Southern College in 1934.

Gamble began working for the federal government in 1939, taking a position at the Department of Labor in 1939. He became a reservist in the U.S. Air Force, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel.