"There was a young fellow from Trinity, Who took the square root of infinity. But the number of digits, Gave him the fidgets; He dropped Math and took up Divinity."
George Gamow 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, worked on radioactive decay, star formation, stellar nucleosynthesis, Big Bang nucleosynthesis, and predicted the existenc
"If contribution in life is measured by the influence of a persons best ideas, then George Gamows contribution has been immense. He explained radioactive decay, described reaction mechanisms and rates in the interior of stars, proposed how the elements were made, and suggested how DNA might provide the code for protein synthesis. Those topics have evolved into major fields of science..."
George Gamow"It took less than an hour to make the atoms, a few hundred million years to make the stars and planets, but five billion years to make man!"
George Gamow"The physicist George Gamow was also an entertaining popularizer. He once told the story of how with his wife and their baby daughter he visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa. As they climbed the steps, they noticed an increasingly musty smell, which they first attributed to the ancient walls of the building. Then, however, they began to suspect their little girl, and by the time they reached the top it was clear that she needed immediate attention. “And from the very place,” explained Gamow, raising his arm and his voice dramatically, “where Galileo launched his experimental objects, we also propelled…”"
George Gamow"I feel that matter has properties which physics tells you."
George Gamow"Take a look at George Gamow, who is now recognized as one of the great cosmologists of the last hundred years. I speculate that he probably didnt win the Nobel Prize because people could not take him seriously. He wrote childrens books. His colleagues have publicly stated his writing childrens books on science had an adverse effect on his scientific reputation, and people could not take him seriously when he and his colleagues proposed that there should be a cosmic background radiation, which we now know to be one of the greatest discoveries of 20th-century physics."
George Gamow"So I am just sitting and waiting, listening, and if something exciting comes, I just jump in."
George Gamow