2025 George Gamow® Award: Call for Nominations
Nominations accepted
The Russian-American Science Association (RASA-America) announces that two George Gamow® awards will be awarded in 2025. The award is given to members of the Russian-speaking scientific diaspora for outstanding contributions to world science. Scholars from any field may be nominated.
Georgе Gamov is an outstanding Soviet and American physicist and popularizer of science, who made a pioneering contribution to the creation of the theory of alpha decay, the “hot Universe” model, and the application of nuclear physics to the problems of stellar evolution. He also made a significant contribution to biology, being the first to formulate the problem of the genetic code. He is widely known for popular science books, in which, based on the experience of his hero, Mr. Tompkins, he spoke in a fascinating and accessible way about modern scientific ideas. Gamow was a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and a member of the US National Academy of Sciences.
The 2025 George Gamow award committee is chaired by Prof. Alexandra Zhernakova. Nominations should be submitted by July 20, 2025 using the Google Form. Questions about the nominations can be addressed to inforasausa@gmail.com. The award will be presented to the recipients in person at the annual RASA Conference, November 2025 in New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
RASA George Gamow® award Charter
May 7, 2022
RASA George Gamow® Award:
1. Established by the association of Russian-speaking scientists in North America (Russian – American Science Association Corp., RASA) in memory of outstanding Soviet and American physicist George Gamow (1904 – 1968). The Prize is awarded to members of the Russian-speaking scientific diaspora for outstanding contributions to science, as well as efforts to promote international cooperation and preservation of Russian cultural heritage.
2. The award consists of a diploma describing the achievements of the laureate and a medal.
3. The George Gamow® Award is awarded to academics in all fields, regardless of the country of residence.
5. The George Gamow® Award Committee is approved annually by the RASA Coordination Committee for one annual cycle, and normally consists of 5 or more (an odd number) members, including the Chairman of the Committee.
4. The award is presented annually at the RASA Conference. Winners’ travel and stay at the RASA Conference are fully covered.
6. The George Gamow® Award Committee establishes the procedures for the selection of candidates that guarantees the high standards and prestige of the RASA George Gamow® Award. The Committee submits its recommendations to the RASA Coordinating Committee for final approval.
7. The George Gamow® Award Committee includes at least two previous laureates of George Gamow® Award.
8. Two George Gamow® awardees are selected annually.
This charter has been approved by the RASA Coordination Committee.
Past recipients of the George Gamow award
The award named after the Soviet and American physicist George Gamow is awarded annually since 2015 at the RASA-America conference. The past recipients of the award are:
2024
- Ekaterina Zhuravskaya (Paris School of Economics)
- Vladimir Vapnik (Columbia University)
2023
- Andrei Zorin (University of Oxford)
- Victor Chernozhukov (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
2022
- Igor Alabugin (Florida State University)
- Alexandra Zhernakova (University of Groningen)
2021
- Vadim Gladyshev (Harvard University)
- Mark Lipovetsky (Columbia University)
2020
- Yury Gogotsi (Drexel University)
- Mikhail Lukin (Harvard University)
2019
- Vera Serganova (National Library of Medicine, USA)
- Valery Fokin (University of Southern California, USA)
2018
- Eugene Koonin (National Institutes of Health, Berkeley, USA)
- Andrei Linde (Stanford University, USA)
2017
- Alexander Kabanov (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA and Moscow State University, Russia)
- Artem Oganov (Skoltech, Russia and University of Stony Brook, USA)
2016
- Roald Sagdeev (University of Maryland, USA)
- Vladimir Shiltsev (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, USA)
2015
- Igor Efimov (George Washington University)
- Vladimir L. Zelman (University of Southern California, USA)