 
George Gamow (1904 – 1968) was a Soviet and then American theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He was considered a
polymath, as were Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov and Isaac Newton.
He was an early advocate of the Big Bang origin of the universe theory. He discovered a theoretical explanation of alpha decay by quantum tunneling, invented the liquid drop model and the first mathematical model of the atomic nucleus, and worked on radioactive decay, star formation, and stellar nucleosynthesis.Later in his career, Gamow wrote popular books on science, including One Two Three... Infinity and the Mr Tompkins series of physics books. Many of his books are still in print after more than half a century. His books were valuable resources as well as being easy to read. By the end of high school I had read most of his popular science books (see the list at the bottom of the page), and they were definitely a factor in my decision to enter the astrophysics program at the University of Toronto (which later was transmogrified into an Education degree in physics and mathematics). Gamow was educated at the Institute of Physics and Mathematics in Odessa and at the University of Leningrad. After graduation, he worked on quantum theory, where his research into the atomic nucleus provided the basis for his doctorate. He then worked at the Theoretical Physics Institute of the University of Copenhagen, and also worked with Ernest Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. He continued to study the atomic nucleus, but also worked on stellar physics. In the early 20th century, radioactive materials were known to have characteristic exponential decay rates, or half-lives. At the same time, radiation emissions were known to have certain characteristic energies. By 1928, Gamow had solved the theory of the alpha decay of a nucleus via tunnelling. Gamow worked at a number of Soviet establishments before deciding to flee the Soviet Union because of increased oppression. Gamow later said that his first two attempts to defect with his wife were in 1932 and involved trying to kayak: first a planned 250-kilometer paddle over the Black Sea to Turkey, and another attempt from Murmansk to Norway. Poor weather foiled both attempts, but they had not been noticed by the authorities. In 1933, Gamow was suddenly granted permission to attend a conference on physics in Brussels. He insisted on having his wife accompany him. Eventually the Soviet authorities relented and issued passports for the couple. The two attended and arranged to extend their stay, with the help of Marie Curie and other physicists. Over the next year, Gamow obtained temporary work at the Curie Institute, University of London, and the University of Michigan. In 1934, Gamow and his wife moved to the United States. He became a professor at George Washington University and recruited physicist Edward Teller from London to join him. In 1936, Gamow and Teller published what became known as the "Gamow–Teller selection rule" for beta decay. During his time in Washington, Gamow would also publish major scientific papers with Mário Schenberg and Ralph Alpher. By the late 1930s, Gamow's interests had turned towards astrophysics and cosmology. Gamow was interested in the processes of stellar evolution and the early history of the Solar System. Gamow published a paper in the British journal Nature in 1948, in which he developed equations for the mass and radius of a primordial galaxy (which typically contains about one hundred billion stars, each with a mass comparable with that of the Sun). Gamow's work in cosmology included the assumption that the early universe was dominated by radiation rather than by matter. Most of the later work in cosmology is founded in Gamow's theory. He applied his model to the question of the creation of the chemical elements and to the subsequent condensation of matter into galaxies, whose mass and diameter he was able to calculate in terms of the fundamental physical parameters such as the speed of light c, Newton's gravitational constant G, Sommerfeld's fine-structure constant, and Planck's constant h. At first, Gamow believed that all the elements might be produced in the very high temperature and density early stage of the universe. Later, he revised this opinion on the strength of compelling evidence advanced by Fred Hoyle and others, that elements heavier than lithium are largely produced in thermonuclear reactions in stars and in supernovae. Gamow formulated a set of coupled differential equations describing his proposed process and assigned, as a PhD dissertation topic, his graduate student Ralph Alpher the task of solving the equations numerically. These results of Gamow and Alpher appeared in 1948 as the Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper. Gamow published about twenty papers on cosmology. The earliest was in 1939 with Edward Teller on galaxy formation, followed in 1946 by the first description of cosmic nucleosynthesis. He also wrote many popular articles as well as academic textbooks on this and other subjects. In 1967, he published reminiscences and recapitulation of his own work as well as the work of Alpher and Robert Herman (both with Gamow and also independently of him). This was prompted by the discovery of the cosmic background radiation by Penzias and Wilson in 1965; Gamow, Alpher, and Herman felt that they did not receive the credit they deserved for their theoretical predictions of its existence and source. Gamow continued his teaching at the University of Colorado in Boulder and focused increasingly on writing textbooks and books on science for the general public. After several months of ill health, surgeries on his circulatory system, diabetes, and liver problems, Gamow was dying from liver failure, which he had called the "weak link" that could not withstand the other stresses. In a letter he had written, "The pain in the abdomen is unbearable and does not stop". On August 19, 1968, Gamow died at age 64 in Boulder, Colorado, and was buried there. The physics department tower at the University of Colorado at Boulder is named after him. A partial list of George Gamow's written works in science: Popular science Science textbooks |