In his school days Gamow became very much interested in astronomy, examining the starry sky through a little telescope, his father's present on the thirteenth birthday of his son.
Gamow then decided to become a scientist and began his study of mathematics, physics, and astronomy.
1922
-1923
Student at Novorossia University, Odessa
1923
-1929
Student at University of Leningrad
After graduation from the University of Leningrad in 1926, he attended summer school in Gottingen and decided to see if the newly-formulated quantum theory, so successful in explaining the structure of the atom, could also be applied to the atomic nucleus.
Through research he was able to explain the then-mysterious phenomenon of natural radioactivity as well as the experiments of Lord Rutherford on the induced transformation of light