George Gamow

George Gamow
Born	Georgiy Antonovich Gamov (1904-03-04)March 4, 1904 (O.S. February 20, 1904) Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)
Died	August 19, 1968(1968-08-19) (aged 64) Boulder, Colorado, U.S.
Citizenship	Soviet Union United States
Alma mater	Leningrad State University
Known for	Gamow factor Gamow–Teller transition Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper Alpha decay Big Bang cGh physics Liquid drop model Quantum tunnelling Urca process One Two Three ... Infinity
Spouse(s)	Rho (m. 1931, div. 1956) Barbara (m. 1958)
Children	1 (Igor Gamow)
Awards	Kalinga Prize (1956)[1]
Scientific career
Fields	Physicist, science writer
Institutions	University of Göttingen Niels Bohr Institute Cavendish Laboratory George Washington University University of California, Berkeley University of Colorado Boulder
Doctoral advisor	Alexander Friedmann
Doctoral students	Ralph Asher Alpher Vera Rubin
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George Gamow, sometimes Gammoff; born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov (Russian: Георгий Антонович Гамов; 4 March 1904 – 19 August 1968) was a Soviet and American polymath, theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He was an early advocate and developer of Lemaître's Big Bang theory. Gamow discovered a theoretical explanation of alpha decay by quantum tunneling, invented the liquid drop model and 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 molecular genetics.

In his middle and late career, Gamow directed much of his attention to teaching and wrote popular books on science, including One Two Three... Infinity and the Mr Tompkins series of books (1939–1967). Some of his books remain in print more than a half-century after their original publication.