Igor Evgenievich (some sources cite middle name as Yevgenyevich) Tamm was born on July 8, 1895, in Vladivostok, Russia. His parents were Evgeny Tamm, a civil engineer, and the former Olga Davydova. When Tamm was six years old, his family moved to Elizavetgrad (later renamed Kirovograd), in the Ukraine. Tamm graduated from the Elizavetgrad Gymnasium in 1913, then spent a year at the University of Edinburgh. The end of his first year in Scotland coincided with the beginning of World War I, and Tamm returned to Russia. There he enrolled in the faculty of physics and mathematics at Moscow State University. His schooling was interrupted when the battlefront moved eastward, and in 1917 he became a member of the Elizavetgrad City Soviet of Workers and Soldier Deputies. When the war came to an end, he returned to his studies and was awarded his bachelor's degree in physics in 1918.

Tamm's first teaching appointments...