Gordon Freeman is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Half-Life video game series, created by Gabe Newell and designed by Newell and Marc Laidlaw of Valve Corporation. His first appearance is in Half-Life. Gordon Freeman is an American man from Seattle, who graduated from MIT with a PhD in Theoretical Physics. He was an employee at Black Mesa Research Facility. Controlled by the player, Gordon is often tasked with using a wide range of weapons and tools to fight alien creatures such as headcrabs, as well as Combine machines and soldiers.