Physics: George Gamow

Physics: George Gamow
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George Gamow (1904) George Gamow (sometimes Gammoff; born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov; Russian: Гео́ргий Анто́нович Га́мов; March 4 [O.

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George Gamow (1904) George Gamow (sometimes Gammoff; born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov; Russian: Гео́ргий Анто́нович Га́мов; March 4 [O.

Commentary

Why is George Gamow remembered? Ever y major advance in physics was made by a person working to understand something that didn't quite make sense yet. George Gamow was one of those people.

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About George Gamow George Gamow (sometimes Gammoff; born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov; Russian: Гео́ргий Анто́нович Га́мов; March 4 [O.S. February 20] 1904 – August 19, 1968) was a Soviet and American polymath, theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He was an early advocate and developer of Georges Lemaître's Big Bang theory. Gamow discovered a theoretical explanation of alpha decay by quantum tunneling, invented the liquid drop model (the first mathematical model of the atomic nucleus), worked on radioactive decay, star formation, stellar nucleosynthesis, Big Bang nucleosynthesis (which he collectively called nucleocosmogenesis), and predicted the existence of the cosmic microwave background radiation and molecular genetics. In his middle and late career, Gamow directed much of his attention to teaching and wrote popular science, including One Two Three... Infinity and the Mr Tompkins series. Some of his books remain in print more than a half-century after their original publication. The George Gamow Memorial Lectures at the University of Colorado at Boulder are given in his honor.