Gamal Abdel Nasser (Arabic: جمال عبد الناصر‎; Gamāl or Jamāl ‘Abd an-Nāṣir; - January 15, 1918 – September 28, 1970) was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death in 1970. Along with Muhammad Naguib, he led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which removed King Farouk I and heralded a new period of industrialization in Egypt, together with a profound advancement of Arab nationalism, including a short-lived union with Syria. Nasser inspired anti-colonial and pan-Arab revolutions in Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Yemen, and played a major role in founding the Palestine Liberation Organization, in 1964, and the international Non-Aligned Movement.

Nasser is seen as one of the most important political figures in both modern Arab history and Developing World politics of the Twentieth Century. He is well-known for his nationalist policies and version of pan-Arabism, also referred to as Nasserism, which won a great following in the Arab World during the 1950s and 1960s. Although his status as "leader of the Arabs" was severely tarnished by the Israeli victory over the Arab armies in the Six Day War, many in the general Arab populace still view Nasser as a symbol of Arab dignity and freedom.

Gamal Abdel Nasser was born in Alexandria, the son of Abdel Nasser Hussein, a postal worker from the fellahin town of Beni Mur near the city of Asyut in southern Egypt. Nasser's mother, Fahima Hamad, died in 1926 when Nasser was eight years of age. At the time of his mother's death, Nasser was living with his paternal uncle, Khalil Hussein, in Cairo and was unaware that she had died and did not attend her funeral. It is unknown why Nasser was in Cairo. According to biographer Said Aburish, Nasser's parents "saw a special spark in him and decided to send him to the big city and a better school". Nasser's father remarried and had seven more children. After finishing three years in Beni Mur's Qur'anic school, Nasser, now eleven years of age, attended the Ras-al-Tin, Nahaseen and an al-Nahda secondary schools in Alexandria.