George Gamow, an American physicist famous for The Big Bang Theory

George Gamow's original name was Russian Georgy Antonovich Gamov was born on March 4, 1904, in Russian Empire (Now in Ukraine) and died on August 19, 1968, in Boulder, Colorado, U.S.

Hyderabad: Russian-born American nuclear physicist and cosmologist, Geroge Gamow, was one of the foremost advocates of the big-bang theory, according to which the universe was formed in a colossal explosion that took place billions of years ago.

George Gamow, an American physicist famous for The Big Bang Theory

• In addition, his work on deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) made a basic contribution to modern genetic theory.
• Gamow attended Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) University, where he studied briefly with A.A. Friedmann, a mathematician, and cosmologist.
• After graduating in 1928, he traveled to Göttingen, where he developed his quantum theory of radioactivity, the first successful explanation of the behavior of radioactive elements.
• His achievements helped him in getting a fellowship at the Copenhagen Institute of Theoretical Physics (1928–29), where he continued his investigations in theoretical nuclear physics.
• He proposed his “liquid drop” model of atomic nuclei, which served as the basis for the modern theories of nuclear fission and fusion.
• He also collaborated with F. Houtermans and R. Atkinson in developing a theory of the rates of thermonuclear reactions inside stars.
• In 1934, Gamow was appointed as professor of physics at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. There he collaborated with Edward Teller in developing a theory of beta decay (1936), a nuclear decay process in which an electron is emitted.
• After that Gamow resumed his study of the relations between small-scale nuclear processes and cosmology. He used his knowledge of nuclear reactions to interpret stellar evolution, collaborating with Teller on a theory of the internal structures of red giant stars (1942).

Gamow and Teller were both proponents of the expanding-universe theory that had been advanced by Friedmann, Edwin Hubble, and Georges LeMaître. Gamow, however, modified the theory. Later this theory was published in a paper called “The Origin of Chemical Elements” (1948).