Gale is an educational publishing company based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, the United States, in the western suburbs of Detroit. It was part of the Thomson Learning division of the Thomson Corporation, a Canadian company, but became part of Cengage Learning in 2007.

The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Group, is active in research and educational publishing for public and academic libraries, schools and businesses. The company may be best known for its full-text magazine and newspaper database InfoTrac and other online databases accessible from schools and libraries, as well as multi-volume reference works, especially in the areas of religion, history and social science.

Founded in Detroit in 1954 by Frederick Gale Ruffner, it was acquired by Thomson in 1985.

In 1999, Thomson Gale acquired Macmillan Reference USA (including Scribner's Reference, Thorndike Press, Schirmer, Twayne Publishers, and G. K. Hall) from Pearson (who had acquired it from Simon & Schuster in 1998; Macmillan USA was purchased by Simon & Schuster in 1994). In 2000 it acquired the Munich-based K.G. Saur Verlag, but then sold it to Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG in 2006.

A gale is a very strong wind. There are conflicting definitions of how strong a wind must be to be considered a gale. The U.S. government's National Weather Service defines a gale as 34–47 knots (63–87 km/h, 17.5–24.2 m/s or 39–54 miles/hour) of sustained surface winds. Forecasters typically issue gale warnings when winds of this strength are expected.

Other sources use minimums as low as 28 knots (52 km/h) and maximums as high as 90 knots (170 km/h). Through 1986, the National Hurricane Center used the term gale to refer to winds of tropical force for coastal areas, between 33 knots (61 km/h) and 63 knots (117 km/h). The 90-knot (170 km/h) definition is very non-standard. A common alternative definition of the maximum is 55 knots (102 km/h).

The most common way of measuring winds is with the Beaufort scale /ˈboʊfərt/. It is an empirical measure for describing wind speed based mainly on observed sea conditions. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale.

On the Beaufort Wind Scale, a Gale is classified as: Moderate Gale(32-38 miles per hour), Fresh Gale(39-46 mph), Strong Gale(47-54 mph) and Whole Gale(55-63 mph). A Gale is a type of Wind Description preceded by Calm, Light Air, Slight Breeze, Gentle Breeze, Moderate Breeze, Fresh Breeze, Strong Breeze and succeeded by Storm and Hurricane on a Beaufort Wind Scale. There is a unique Beaufort Scale number and a unique Arrow Indication for each type of Wind Description mentioned above.

George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. (February 14, 1859–November 22, 1896) was an American engineer. He is most famous for creating the original Ferris Wheel for the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.

Ferris was born on February 14, 1859, in Galesburg, Illinois, the town founded by his namesake, George Washington Gale. His parents were George Washington Gale Ferris Sr. and Martha Edgerton Hyde.^{[citation needed]} He had an older brother named Frederick Hyde who was born in 1843. In 1864, five years after Ferris was born, his family sold their dairy farm and moved to Nevada. For two years, they lived in Carson Valley.

From 1868 to 1890, his father, George Washington Gale Ferris Sr., owned Sears-Ferris House, at 311 W. Third, Carson City, Nevada. Originally built in about 1863 by Gregory A. Sears, a pioneer Carson City businessman, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places for Carson City on February 9, 1979.

Ferris Senior was an agriculturalist/horticulturalist, noteworthy in Carson City's development for much of the city's landscaping during the 1870s, and for importing a large number of the trees from the east that were planted throughout the city.

George Washington Gale (1789 - September 13, 1861) was born in Stanford, New York and became a Presbyterian minister in western New York state. A graduate of Union College in 1814, and Princeton Theological Seminary in 1819. in 1827 Gale founded the Oneida Institute in Whitesboro, New York, an institution where students would pay for their education by doing manual labor.

Under the ministry of Gale, Charles Finney professed faith in Christ and undertook to become a Christian minister.

Gale later settled in what would become Galesburg, Illinois to found Knox College (then called the Knox Manual Labor College) in 1837, site of one of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858.

George Washington (February 22, 1732 [O.S. February 11, 1731] – December 14, 1799) was the first President of the United States of America, serving from 1789 to 1797, and the dominant military and political leader of the United States from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of the Constitution in 1787. Washington became the first president, by unanimous choice, and oversaw the creation of a strong, well-financed national government that maintained neutrality in the wars raging in Europe, suppressed rebellion, and won acceptance among Americans of all types. His leadership style established many forms and rituals of government that have been used since, such as using a cabinet system and delivering an inaugural address. Washington is universally regarded as the "Father of his country."