Austrian engineer Gaston Glock, inventor of a pistol that revolutionized the weapons industry, died this Wednesday at the age of 94, his company reported.
“In memory of Gaston Glock, 07/119/1929 – 12/27/23. Perfection continues,” wrote the firm, Glock GmbH, on its website, along with a photo of the businessman on a black background.
As discreet as he is famous, the father of the “Glock” semi-automatic pistol studied mechanical engineering in Vienna before designing prototype pistols.
In 1982, he won a tender from the Austrian army by presenting a weapon with numerous non-metallic components, cheaper, lighter and easier to disassemble than those of his competitors.
His company, based in Deutsch-Wagram (northeast Austria), then launched itself to conquer the world market.
“You can really compare Glock, who had no knowledge of weapons, with Steve Jobs, who conceived the first Apple product in his garage,” Fritz Ofner, director of a documentary that constitutes one of the few investigations on an individuality surrounded by discretion (Weapon of Choice).
The pistol became an icon in the United States, where it is estimated that it equips 80% of police officers, and was praised by Hollywood and hip-hop.
Bruce Willis praises its advantages in Die Hard 2 (“The Jungle 2: Red Alert”); Tommy Lee Jones does it in the U.S. Marshals and is often drawn in James Bond films.