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{{short description|American microbiology professor and inventor (1935–2021)}}
{{short description|American microbiology professor and inventor (1935–2021)}}


'''Rustem Igor Gamow''' (November 4, 1935 in [[Georgetown, D.C.]] – April 15, 2021)<ref>Gamow, George: ''My World Line: An Informal Autobiography'', The Viking Press, New York, 1970, page 106.</ref> was a [[microbiology]] professor at the [[University of Colorado]] and [[inventor]]. His best known inventions included the [[Gamow bag]] and the Shallow Underwater Breathing Apparatus. He was fired from CU in 2004 related to sexual harassment and assault charges. <ref name="9news">{{Cite web|url=https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/cu-fires-professor-accused-of-sexual-harassment/73-344912086|title = CU fires professor accused of sexual harassment}}</ref>
'''Rustem Igor Gamow''' (November 4, 1935, in [[Georgetown, D.C.]] – April 15, 2021)<ref>Gamow, George: ''My World Line: An Informal Autobiography'', The Viking Press, New York, 1970, page 106.</ref> was a [[microbiology]] professor at the [[University of Colorado]] and [[inventor]]. His best known inventions included the [[Gamow bag]] and the Shallow Underwater Breathing Apparatus. He was fired from CU in 2004 following sexual harassment and assault charges.<ref name="9news">{{Cite web|url=https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/cu-fires-professor-accused-of-sexual-harassment/73-344912086|title = CU fires professor accused of sexual harassment| date=17 April 2004 }}</ref>


==Early life and education==
==Early life and education==
Rustem Igor Gamow was born to [[George Gamow]], the celebrated{{lopsided|date=June 2019}} [[cosmologist]] and [[physicist]], and ballet dancer [[Rho Gamow]]. Finishing high school at age 17, he joined the [[National Ballet Company]].{{cn|date=June 2019}} He held such jobs as [[breaking horses]], delivering packages by motorcycle, and teaching [[karate]] before enrolling at the [[University of Colorado Boulder|University of Colorado]] in 1958, where his father taught [[physics]], [[microbiology]] and [[microphysics]].{{cn|date=June 2019}} Gamow holds a B.A. and M.S. in [[biology]], and a Ph.D. in [[biophysics]], all at University of Colorado.{{cn|date=June 2019}}
Rustem Igor Gamow was the son of Soviet émigré [[physicist]]s [[George Gamow]] and Lyubov Vokhmintseva "Rho" Gamow. Finishing high school at age 17, he joined the [[National Ballet Company]].{{cn|date=June 2019}} He worked [[breaking horses]], delivering packages by motorcycle, and teaching [[karate]] before enrolling at the [[University of Colorado Boulder|University of Colorado]] in 1958, where his father taught.{{cn|date=June 2019}} Igor Gamow received a B.A. and M.S. in [[biology]], and a Ph.D. in [[biophysics]], all at University of Colorado.{{cn|date=June 2019}}


== Research ==
== Research ==
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== Termination at CU ==
== Termination at CU ==


In 2002, a former assistant of Gamow's filed a lawsuit against the university alleging sexual harassment and sexual assault from seven women. After the lawsuit was filed, the university began to take steps to terminate Gamow. In 2004 the CU Board of Regents unanimously upheld the recommendation to dismiss Gamow for "moral turpitude". Gamow filed a lawsuit against CU in an attempt to be reinstated.<ref name="9news"/>
In 2002, a former assistant of Gamow's filed a lawsuit against the university alleging sexual harassment and sexual assault of seven women. After the lawsuit was filed, the university began to take steps to terminate Gamow. In 2004 the CU Board of Regents unanimously upheld the recommendation to dismiss Gamow for "moral turpitude". Gamow filed a lawsuit against CU in an attempt to be reinstated.<ref name="9news"/>


In May 2006, CU lost a lawsuit that had been filed by Gamow's former assistant and was ordered to pay her $285,000 plus attorney's fees.{{cn|date=June 2019}}
In May 2006, CU lost a lawsuit that had been filed by Gamow's former assistant and was ordered to pay her $285,000 plus attorney's fees.{{cn|date=June 2019}}
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[[Category:2021 deaths]]
[[Category:2021 deaths]]
[[Category:American chemical engineers]]
[[Category:American chemical engineers]]
[[Category:University of Colorado faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado Boulder faculty]]
[[Category:University of Colorado Boulder faculty]]
[[Category:American inventors]]
[[Category:Inventors from Colorado]]
[[Category:People from Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)]]
[[Category:People from Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)]]

Latest revision as of 09:00, 15 March 2024

Rustem Igor Gamow (November 4, 1935, in Georgetown, D.C. – April 15, 2021)[1] was a microbiology professor at the University of Colorado and inventor. His best known inventions included the Gamow bag and the Shallow Underwater Breathing Apparatus. He was fired from CU in 2004 following sexual harassment and assault charges.[2]

Early life and education

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Rustem Igor Gamow was the son of Soviet émigré physicists George Gamow and Lyubov Vokhmintseva "Rho" Gamow. Finishing high school at age 17, he joined the National Ballet Company.[citation needed] He worked breaking horses, delivering packages by motorcycle, and teaching karate before enrolling at the University of Colorado in 1958, where his father taught.[citation needed] Igor Gamow received a B.A. and M.S. in biology, and a Ph.D. in biophysics, all at University of Colorado.[citation needed]

Research

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Gamow worked on Phycomyces blakesleeanus during postdoctoral research under Max Delbrück at Caltech. At CU-Boulder, he did Phycomyces research for over twenty years, mainly on the avoidance and anemotropic responses, helical growth, and cell-wall mechanical properties. He also studied the infrared-detectors of the Boa constrictor.

An avid outdoorsman, Gamow developed a number of inventions for safety in outdoor activities. His first important one, patented in 1990, was the Gamow bag enabling mountain climbers to avoid altitude sickness by raising the surrounding pressure. Sir Edmund Hillary, the first expedition leader to summit Mount Everest, wrote him in congratulation.[citation needed] Another was the Shallow Underwater Breathing Apparatus ("SUBA"), a pressurized snorkel system permitting swimmers to breathe easily as deep as ten feet under water.

Igor Gamow also worked in bionics, on an orthopedic knee brace that stores energy within a spring from the hamstring and redirects it to the quadriceps.[citation needed]

Patents

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Termination at CU

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In 2002, a former assistant of Gamow's filed a lawsuit against the university alleging sexual harassment and sexual assault of seven women. After the lawsuit was filed, the university began to take steps to terminate Gamow. In 2004 the CU Board of Regents unanimously upheld the recommendation to dismiss Gamow for "moral turpitude". Gamow filed a lawsuit against CU in an attempt to be reinstated.[2]

In May 2006, CU lost a lawsuit that had been filed by Gamow's former assistant and was ordered to pay her $285,000 plus attorney's fees.[citation needed]

In September 2011, Gamow released an open letter addressing some misconceptions about events leading to his termination from the University of Colorado.

References

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  1. ^ Gamow, George: My World Line: An Informal Autobiography, The Viking Press, New York, 1970, page 106.
  2. ^ a b "CU fires professor accused of sexual harassment". 17 April 2004.
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