This book tells the incredible story of George Gamow, one of the most brilliant and extravagant physicists of the past century. Gamow was born in Russia in 1904 and died in the USA in 1968. He lived his life in a time between the twenties and the sixties, characterized by rapid developments in physics and became a key figure of that time. Gamow's true merits were seldom fully recognized. Yet his ideas are behind a number of Nobel Prizes for Physics during the past century. His remarkable achievements in Nuclear Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology were the result of a combination of expertise and creativity, intuition and, importantly, of a good sense of humor. Together they craft the image of a true revolutionary scientist. Gamow also had a natural talent for popularization and was throughout his life a successful science communicator.The figure of Gamow is interesting also from a cultural perspective. His life stretches across a critical period in our history and moves geographically from Russia to the USA, via Europe. His story provides insights into the complex dialogue between historical events and scientific developments during the twentieth century.Our book builds on the extensive interview that science historian Charles Weiner did with Gamow shortly before his death. Here Gamow offers a complete survey of his scientific achievements. Tapping onto their dialogue, we have enriched the picture of Gamow's figure with materials gathered also from other sources. First of all, we discuss his autobiography, in which Gamow mainly focuses on the education he received in Russia and on his experience as a young scientist in Europe. We contrast this with relevant writings about his, at times, controversial role in the scientific environment of his epoch. Altogether, these form a critical and complex representation of the life and character of this extraordinary scientist and human being.Related Link(s)

This book surveys the models for the origin of life and presents a new model starting with shaped droplets and ending with life as polygonal Archaea; it collects the most published micrographs of Archaea (discovered only in 1977), which support this conclusion, and thus provides the first visual survey of Archaea. Origin of Life via Archaea’s purpose is to add a new hypothesis on what are called “shaped droplets”, as the starting point, for flat, polygonal Archaea, supporting the Vesicles First hypothesis. The book contains over 6000 distinct references and micrographs of 440 extant species of Archaea, 41% of which exhibit polygonal phenotypes. It surveys the intellectual battleground of the many ideas of the origin of life on earth, chemical equilibrium, autocatalysis, and biotic polymers. This book contains 17 chapters, some coauthored, on a wide range of topics on the origin of life, including Archaea’s origin, patterns, and species. It shows how various aspects of the origin of life may have occurred at chemical equilibrium, not requiring an energy source, contrary to the general assumption. For the reader’s value, its compendium of Archaea micrographs might also serve many other interesting questions about Archaea. One chapter presents a theory for the shape of flat, polygonal Archaea in terms of the energetics at the surface, edges and corners of the S-layer. Another shows how membrane peptides may have originated. The book also includes a large table of most extant Archaea, that is searchable in the electronic version. It ends with a chapter on problems needing further research. Audience This book will be used by astrobiologists, origin of life biologists, physicists of small systems, geologists, biochemists, theoretical and vesicle chemists.

"... the first complete biography of a colorful and influential physicist who instigated the modern Big Bang theory of the universe's birth. The book, rich in anecdotes reflecting Gamow's humorous and clowning side, is a detailed account of his scientific insights and contributions."--Provided by publisher.

Traces the careers of two lesser-known mid-20th-century physicists whose maverick approaches to research have significantly advanced present-day understandings in genomics and cosmology. By the award-winning author of Faust in Copenhagen. 20,000 first printing.

Outstanding text by one of the 20th century's foremost physicists dramatically explains how the central laws of physical science evolved, from Pythagoras' discovery of frequency ratios in the 6th century BC to today's research on elementary particles. Includes fascinating biographical data about Galileo, Newton, Huygens, Einstein and others. 136 illustrations.

'The Galloping Gamows' is the story of artist, inventor and biophysicist Igor Gamow and his, father, the renowned physicist, George Gamow, who developed the Big Bang Theory of the Universe. As a young man, Igor Gamow led the life of a bohemian artist and became an accomplished ballet dancer in Leon Fokine's National Ballet Company. Igor went on to become a professor of biophysics and a renowned inventor. His father, George Gamow played a significant role in developing nuclear physics and astrophysics. He made seminal discoveries in atomic physics working with Niels Bohr and Ernest Rutherford; and with his colleague, Ralph Alpher, described the physical model for the creation of the universe. In 'The Galloping Gamows', we witness the creative process at work through the lives of two ingenious mavericks.

Mr Tompkins has become known and loved by many thousands of readers (since his first appearance over fifty years ago) as the bank clerk whose fantastic dreams and adventures lead him into a world inside the atom. George Gamow's classic provides a delightful explanation of the central concepts in modern physics, from atomic structure to relativity, and quantum theory to fusion and fission.

Mr. Tompkins, the inquisitive bank clerk created in 1937 by esteemed physicist George Gamow--developer of the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe--returns in a new series of "graphic textbooks"! Previously available only as part of The Adventures of Mr. Tompkins Volume One, this Tompkins adventure finds him traveling through time and space with Albert Einstein, who teaches him about the "New Gravity"--the theory of General Relativity!Whether you are a budding beginner or seasoned scientist, The Adventures of Mr. Tompkins and Einstein provides a feast of fantastic imagery and mind-expanding information!Igor Gamow, son of George Gamow, proudly brings his father's literary hero to the 21st century for a new audience. For thirty-seven years he was a professor of engineering at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He holds numerous patents in the field of bioengineering, including the Gamow Bag, a device that treats high altitude mountain sickness.Scorpio Steele, in addition to illustrating Mr. Tompkins? new adventures, has worked on Spider-Man and Iron Man projects for Marvel Comics, as well as art for the glam-rock band The New York Dolls.

George tries to escape a host of problems by going to Switzerland to help his friend Annie's father, Eric, run an experiment exploring the origins of the universe, but faces saboteurs and a mysterious message from George's old nemesis, Reeper, there. Includes scientific essays. Illustrations.

Einstein was right. The Big Bang never happend! www.einsteins-universe.com/en/ On the basis of the spiritual ideas of a Belgian priest and an Indian Brahmin, so-called “modern cosmology” has been peddling unadulterated mysticism for decades now. This mysticism has found worldwide distribution especially through a plethora of television documentaries, despite the fact that their pseudoscientific content has been proven to lie completely outside the laws of physics. In this way, people have been led to believe that 95 percent of our universe consists of mystical dark energy and dark matter and only 5 percent of the universe is accessible to us empirically. But what lies behind the scandalous and lamentable failure of an entire branch of astrophysical science and who has an interest in promoting this mysticism? The author of the book reveals clearly, how the scandalous failure of a whole branch of science came about and explains the actual dynamics of the universe using the reputable physical findings of Isaac Newton, Max Planck, Albert Einstein, and Karl Schwarzschild. Almost everything about the universe that you believe to be true is demonstrably false. A mixture of mysticism and science-fiction! After 100 years, Einstein´s idea of a static universe has turned out to be true after all. There was definitely no Big Bang, nor are there so-called "black holes" in which space, mass and time collapse to a point, but rather relativistic black spheres. These black spheres are the solution of Hawking´s paradox. Further information: www.einsteins-universe.com/en/