Editing George Gamow (section)

== Defection ==
Gamow worked at a number of Soviet establishments before deciding to flee the Soviet Union because of increased oppression. In 1931, he was officially denied permission to attend a scientific conference in Italy. Also in 1931, he married Lyubov Vokhmintseva ({{langx|ru|Любовь Вохминцева}}), another physicist in the Soviet Union, whom he nicknamed "Rho" after [[rho|the Greek letter]]. Gamow and his new wife spent much of the next two years trying to leave the Soviet Union, with or without official permission. [[Niels Bohr]] and other friends invited Gamow to visit during this period, but Gamow could not get permission to leave.

Gamow later said that his first two attempts to defect with his wife were in 1932 and involved trying to [[kayak]]: first a planned 250-kilometer paddle over the [[Black Sea]] to [[Turkey]], and another attempt from [[Murmansk]] to [[Norway]]. Poor weather foiled both attempts, but they had not been noticed by the authorities.<ref>''My World Line'' G. Gamow, Viking Press, 1970, chap. 5 ''The Crimean campaign''.</ref>

In 1933, Gamow was suddenly granted permission to attend the 7th [[Solvay Conference]] on physics, in [[Brussels]]. He insisted on having his wife accompany him, even saying that he would not go alone. Eventually the Soviet authorities relented and issued passports for the couple. The two attended and arranged to extend their stay, with the help of [[Marie Curie]] and other physicists. Over the next year, Gamow obtained temporary work at the [[Curie Institute (Paris)|Curie Institute]], [[University of London]], and the [[University of Michigan]].