The Russian-American physicist George Gamow (1904-1968) made important contributions to nuclear physics. He also did significant work in the fields of astrophysics and biology and wrote books popularizing science.

George Gamow was born in Odessa, Russia, on March 4, 1904. He became interested in physics at an early age, and when he was 18 he enrolled in the physico-mathematical faculty at Novorossia University in Odessa. After a year he transferred to the University of Leningrad, from which he eventually received a Ph.D. in 1928. That summer he visited the university in Göttingen, Germany. His work impressed the Danish physicist Niels Bohr so much that he was invited to be a fellow of theoretical physics at the University of Copenhagen. He remained in Denmark for one year, then spent the next year studying with Ernest Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory in England. He subsequently returned to the University of Copenhagen...