Gerald Bull

Canadian artillery engineer, entrepreneur (1928–1990)

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Born: March 9, 1928
Died: March 22, 1990
Zodiac sign: Pisces
Birth year: 1928

About Gerald Bull

Gerald Vincent Bull (March 9, 1928 – March 22, 1990) was a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery. Bull moved from project to project in his quest to economically launch a satellite using a huge artillery piece, to which end he designed the Project Babylon "supergun" for Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq. On March 22, 1990, he was shot dead outside his apartment in Brussels, Belgium. His assassination is believed to be the work of Israel's Mossad over his work for the Iraqi government. No person has ever been charged with his murder. == Early life == Gerald Vincent Bull was born on March 9, 1928 in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. He is the son of George L. Toussaint Bull, a solicitor, and Gertrude Isabelle (née LaBrosse) Bull. George Bull was from a family from the Trenton area and had moved to North Bay in 1903 to start a law firm. As a Roman Catholic, LaBrosse would have been forbidden from marrying Bull, an Anglican. George converted to Roman Catholicism on February 20, 1909, and the couple married three days later.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Bull was at CARDE briefly before returning to the university to defend his thesis in March 1951, at 23 years old becoming the youngest PhD graduate in the institute's history—a record that remains to this day.
During the Depression, Phil and Edith had won about $175,000 in the Irish Sweepstakes, and were relatively well off.
One station was equipped for Schlieren photography to record the shock waves and wake around the projectile.

The world when Gerald Bull was born

Gerald Bull was born in 1928. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1928

#1 song"Makin' Whoopee" – Eddie Cantor
Top movieSteamboat Willie (first Mickey Mouse)
Best-selling bookLady Chatterley's Lover – D.H. Lawrence

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentKnute Rockne's "Win one for the Gipper" speech
Top headlineHerbert Hoover elected president
Technology milestonePenicillin discovered by Alexander Fleming
Defining fadMickey Mouse mania
Notable inventionSliced bread
World population2.07 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderCalvin Coolidge
Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
U.S. population120.5M

1928 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Gerald Bull's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1928	2026
Gas	$0.21	$3.45/gal
Average home	$6,200	$435,000
Average income	$3,800	$67,500
Movie ticket	$0.25	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.02	$0.73
Population	120.5M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.