Igor Gamow

  Rustem Igor Gamow (b. 1936), son of famous scientist George Gamow, is a microbiology professor and inventor. His most well known inventions include: the Gamow bag, and the Shallow Underwater Breathing Apparatus.

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Childhood

Rustem Igor Gamow was born to famous cosmologist and physicist, George Gamow, and ballet dancer, Rho Gamow. Finishing high school at age 17, Gamow joined the National Ballet Company in the footsteps of his mother. Before enrolling in the University of Colorado in 1958, where his father taught Physics, in Microbiology and Microphysics; Igor Gamow held jobs such as breaking horses, delivering packages by motorcycle, and teaching karate.

Inventions

Being an avid outdoorsmen, many of Gamow's inventions have improved the safety of outdoor activities. Igor Gamow's first major invention was the Gamow bag (first patented in 1990), which aided mountain climbers. The bag would allow the user to increase the air pressure within, to avoid the potentially deadly low air pressure at high altitudes. Sir Edmund Hillary, first person to lead an expedition to climb Mount Everest, wrote to Gamow personally, praising his invention.

Another major invention of his, is the SUBA (Shallow Underwater Breathing Apparatus) gear. The SUBA serves as an air-pressurized snorkle system, that allows the user to swim up to 10 feet below the water's surface without coming up for air.

Patents

• U.S. Patent 4,974,829  -- Hyperbaric chamber
• U.S. Patent 5,109,837  -- Hyperbaric chamber
• U.S. Patent 5,193,530  -- Underwater breathing apparatus
• U.S. Patent 5,360,001  -- Hyperbaric chamber closure means
• U.S. Patent 5,367,790  -- Shoe and foot prosthesis with a coupled spring system
• U.S. Patent 5,398,678  -- Hyperbaric chamber and exercise environment
• U.S. Patent 5,467,764  -- Hypobaric sleeping chamber
• U.S. Patent 5,580,094  -- In-line skate walking guard
• U.S. Patent 5,701,686  -- Shoe and foot prosthesis with bending beam spring structures
• U.S. Patent 5,947,116  -- Underwater breathing apparatus with pressurized snorkel
• U.S. Patent 6,029,374  -- Shoe and foot prosthesis with bending beam spring structures

Current events

Igor Gamow conducts research in bionics, on an orthopedic knee brace that stores energy within a spring from the hamstring and redirects it to the quadriceps.

In 2002, a former assistant of Gamow’s filed a lawsuit against the University alleging sexual harassment and sexual assault. After the lawsuit was filed, CU began to take steps to fire the professor. In 2004 the CU Board of Regents unanimously upheld the recommendation to fire Gamow. Professor Gamow also filed a lawsuit against CU in an attempt to be reinstated.

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