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Biography
AbstractImportant DatesOccupationPlacesSubjectsRelationships
PeopleInstitutionsResources
Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as SubjectGeorge Gamow
Dates
March 4, 1904 – August 19, 1968
Authorized Form of Name
Gamow, George, 1904-1968
Additional Forms of Names
Gamov, Georgii Antonovic, 1904-1968
Gamow, George Antony, 1904-1968
Kai-mo-fu, G., 1904-1968
Biography
Abstract
George Gamow was Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder (1956-1968). Other institutional affiliations included George Washington University and the University of Leningrad. His research interests included beta decay and the big bang theory.
Important Dates
March 4, 1904Birth, Odesa (Ukraine).
1922 – 1923Matriculated in Physical-Mathematical Institute, Odessa State University (Novorossia University), Odesa (Ukraine).
1923 – 1929Obtained PhD in Physics, University of Leningrad (Leningradskii gosudarstvennyi universitet), Saint Petersburg (Russia).
1928 – 1929Carlsberg Fellow, Theoretical Physics Institute, University of Copenhagen (Københavns universitet).
1929 – 1930Rockefeller Fellow, Cambridge University.
1930 – 1931University Fellow, Theoretical Physics Institute, University of Copenhagen (Københavns universitet).
1931 – 1933Professor, University of Leningrad (Leningradskii gosudarstvennyi universitet).
1934 – 1956Professor, George Washington University, Washington (D.C.).
1953Member, National Academy of Sciences.
1956 – 1968Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder (Colo.).
August 19, 1968Death, Boulder (Colo.).
Occupation
Nuclear physicist.
Places
Birth
Undergraduate Education
Graduate Education
Employment
Death
Subjects
Relationships
People
Family
Gamow, Barbara, 1905-1976
Second wife, married 1958.
Gamow, Igor
Son.
Gamow, Rho
First wife, married 1932.
Advisors & Collaborators
Alpher, Ralph, 1921-2007
Advised by Gamow at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory on origin of elements.
PhD advisor at University of Copenhagen (Københavns universitet).
PhD advisor at University of Göttingen.
Advisor at University of Cambridge.
Collaborated on the Gamow-Teller theory of weak interactions. Both employed at George Washington University.
Colleagues
Both employed at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Condon, Edward Uhler, 1902-1974
Both employed at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Dunn, G. H. (Gordon H.), 1932-
Both employed at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Both employed at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Both employed at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Additional
Amaldi, Edoardo
Ancker-Johnson, Betsy, 1929-
Atkinson, Robert d'Escourt, 1898-1982
Bartlett, Albert A.
Bethe, Hans A. (Hans Albrecht), 1906-2005
Brush, Stephen G.
Casimir, H. B. G. (Hendrik Brugt Gerhard), 1909-2000
Chandrasekhar, S. (Subrahmanyan), 1910-1995
Cockcroft, John, Sir, 1897-1967
Crick, Francis, 1916-2004
Dicke, Robert H. (Robert Henry)
Dirac, P. A. M. (Paul Adrien Maurice), 1902-1984
Evans, Robley Dunglison, 1907-
Gentner, Wolfgang, 1906-1980
Goudsmit, Samuel A. (Samuel Abraham), 1902-1978
Grosse, Aristid von, 1905-1985
Herman, Robert, 1914-
Humason, Milton L. (Milton La Salle), 1891-1972
Jeffreys, Bertha Swirles
Kapitsa, P. L. (Petr Leonidovich), 1894-1984
Klein, Oskar
Landau, L. D. (Lev Davidovich), 1908-1968
Lawrence, Ernest Orlando, 1901-1958
Libby, Stephen B.
Moore, Ruth E., 1908-1989
Mott, N. F. (Nevill Francis), Sir, 1905-1996
Nassau, Jason John, 1893-1965
Nordheim, Lothar, 1899-
Occhialini, Giuseppe, 1907-1993
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967
Rakestraw, Norris Watson
Rosenfeld, L. (Leon), 1904-1974
Rubin, Vera C., 1928-2016
Ryabov, Mikhail I.
Salpeter, Edwin E.
Sessler, A. M. (Andrew Marienhoff)
Shane, Mary Lea Heger, 1897-1983
Stern, Marvin, 1923-
Stromgren, Bengt, 1908-1987
Taylor, Theodore B., 1925-
Wagoner, Robert V.
Waterman, Alan Tower, 1892-1967
Weizsacker, Carl Friedrich, Freiherr von, 1912-2007
Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911-2008
Institutions
Major Positions
George Washington University. Department of Physics
Professor.
Leningradskii gosudarstvennyi universitet
Obtained PhD in Physics (1928). Professor.
University of Colorado Boulder. Department of Physics
Professor.
Professional Activities & Affiliations
Københavns universitet
Carlsberg Fellow, Theoretical Physics Institute and University Fellow, Theoretical Physics Institute.
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
Member.
Odessa State University
Matriculated in the Physical-Mathematical Institute.
University of Cambridge. Department of Physics
Rockefeller Fellow.
Resources
Archival Resources
Author
Basic Theories of Modern Physics, 1964.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Faust, eine Historie, 1932.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Federal Bureau of Investigation files on George Gamow, Robert Serber, and John Archibald Wheeler, 1946-1973.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Francis Crick personal papers, 1938-2007.
Mandeville Special Collections Library
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Gamow lecture series on cosmology [sound recording] / 1968.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
George and Barbara Gamow papers, 1915-1975 (bulk 1950-1975).
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress
James Madison Memorial Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA
George Gamow correspondence, 1948-1949.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
George Gamow letters to Alex Rich, 1955-1962.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
George Gamow papers, 1934-1955.
Department of Special Collections. University Archives.
George Washington University
2130 H Street NW, Washington, DC, USA
Goettinger Nachrichten [facetiae], 1932.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Niels Bohr scientific correspondence, 1903-1962.
Niels Bohr Archive
Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark
Oral history interview with George Gamow, 1968 April 25 and 26.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Subject
A brief history of the George Washington University physics department, 1934-1994.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Alan Tower Waterman papers, 1918-1967 (bulk 1940-1963).
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress
James Madison Memorial Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA
Albert A. Bartlett papers, 1928-2002.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Andrew Sessler and Stephen Libby biographical memoir on Edward Teller, 2007.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Arno A. Penzias papers, 1931-2006 (bulk 1963-1998).
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress
James Madison Memorial Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA
Christian Møller papers, 1928-1980.
Niels Bohr Archive
Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark
Edward Condon papers, circa 1920-1974.
Library
American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
H. B. G. Casimir papers, 1929-2000.
Rijksarchief in Noord-Holland
Kleine Houtweg 18, Haarlem, Netherlands
Hans Bethe papers, circa 1931-1992.
Carl A. Kroch Library. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University
2B Carl A Kroch Library, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Informal moments, Summer Symposia at the University of Michigan [motion picture] / taken by David Dennison ; 1933-1937.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Jason John Nassau papers, 1919-1977.
Archives
Case Western Reserve University
10900 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44106-7229, USA
John Von Neumann papers, 1912-1996 (bulk 1935-1957).
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress
James Madison Memorial Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA
Journal of Jocular Physics, 1935-1955
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Leon Rosenfeld papers, 1911-1974.
Niels Bohr Archive
Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark
Mikhail I. Ryabov collection on George Gamow, 1994-2005.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Milton L. Humason papers, 1948-1952.
Henry E. Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108, USA
Niels Bohr collection of manuscripts by other authors, 1910-1961.
Niels Bohr Archive
Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark
Niels Bohr material collected elsewhere, 1912-1962.
Niels Bohr Archive
Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark
Norris W. Rakestraw papers, 1921-1974.
Mandeville Special Collections Library
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Nuclear reminiscences [motion picture].
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Sir Nevill Francis Mott, 1971 May 21.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Aristid Victor Grosse, 1974 January 11 and April 5.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Bengt Georg Daniel Strömgren, 1976 May 6 and 13.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Bengt Georg Daniel Strömgren, 1978 April 24.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Bertha Swirles, Lady Jeffreys, 1997 March.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Betsy Ancker-Johnson, 2008 December 8.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Carl Friedrich Weizsacker, 1978 April 18.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with David Todd Wilkinson, 1984 September 27.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Edoardo Amaldi, 1969 April 9 and 10.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Edwin Ernest Salpeter, 1978 March 30.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Eugene Feenberg, 1973 April 13 and 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Felix Bloch, 1968 August 15.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Giuseppe Occhialini, 1971 April 5, 6, May 16, 17, and November 18.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Hendrik Brugt Gerhard Casimir, 1963 July 5 and 6.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Leon Rosenfeld, 1968 September 3.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Lothar Wolfgang Nordheim, 1962 July 30.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Marvin Stern, 1987 May 1.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Mary Lea Heger Shane, 1967 July 15.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Maurice Goldhaber, 1967 January 10.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Robert d'Escourt Atkinson, 1977 April 22.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Robert Henry Dicke, 1985 June 18.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Robert Herman, 1983 April 11.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Robert Wagoner, 1988 October 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Robley D. Evans, 1972 May 2, 3, 1974 May 5 and 1978 June 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with S. Chandrasekhar, 1977 May 17, 18 and October 31.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Sir Nevill Francis Mott, 1963 May 13.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Theodore Brewster Taylor, 1989 April 12.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Vera C. Rubin, 1989 April 3.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with William A. Fowler, 1983 May 3 - May 31, 1984.
Institute Archives
California Institute of Technology
1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Oral history interview with Wolfgang Gentner, 1971 November 15.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oskar Klein papers, 1916-1970.
Niels Bohr Archive
Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark
Pais Prize Session [sound recording], 2017 March 13.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Ruth Moore research materials for NIELS BOHR - THE MAN, HIS SCIENCE AND THE WORLD THEY CHANGED, [circa 1912]-1983.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Samuel A. Goudsmit papers, 1921-1979.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Scientific correspondence [microform], 1907-1962.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Selected papers [microform], 1926-1975.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Stanislaw Ulam papers, 1916-1984.
Library
American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
Stephen G. Brush correspondence with Ralph Alpher and Robert Herman regarding the history of the Big Bang cosmology and the discovery of the cosmic microwave background, 1991-1995.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar papers, 1928-1995.
The Joseph Regenstein Library. Department of Special Collections
University of Chicago
1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Washington Conference on Theoretical Physics records, 1933-1947.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Published Resources
Author
Atomic energy in cosmic and human life : fifty years of radioactivity / by George Gamow.
Biography of the earth : its past, present and future.
Cinétique des réactions nucléaires / par G. Gamow.
Constitution of atomic nuclei and radioactivity / by G. Gamow.
Gravity: [classic and modern views] Illus. by the author.
Mr. Tompkins explores the atom / by G. Gamow
Mr. Tompkins in paperback, by G. Gamow. Illustrated by the author and John Hookham.
Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland, or, Stories of c, G, and h / by G. Gamow.
My World Line: An Informal Autobiography (New York: Viking, 1970)
One, two, three ... infinity : facts & speculations of science / illus. by the author.
Physics: foundations and frontiers / [by] George Gamow [and] John M. Cleveland.
Theory of atomic nucleus and nuclear energy sources / by G. Gamow and C.L. Critchfield.
Thirty years that shook physics : the story of quantum theory
Subject
"Gamow's Game: The Road to the Hot Big Bang," Centaurus 38 (1996): 335-361
"George Gamow: 1904-1968", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
"George Gamow: Scientific Amateur and Polymath," Perspectives in Physics 3 (2001): 335-372
Portraits of discovery : profiles in scientific genius / George Greenstein.