image: Anna Krylov and Mikhail Yampolsky are the new George Gamow award laureates
Credit: Anna Krylov, Mikhail Yampolsky
George Gamow® award, established by the Russian-American Association of Scientists (RASA-America, Russian-American Science Association) in memory of the outstanding Russian-American physicist, Professor Georgy Antonovich Gamow (1904-1968) and to encourage members of the Russian-speaking scientific diaspora for outstanding achievements recognized by the wider scientific community, for 2024 is awarded to:
Anna Krylov, professor of the University of Southern California “For her pioneering contributions to theoretical and computational chemistry, particularly the development of novel electronic structure methods for open-shell and electronically excited species; for her leadership within the theoretical chemistry community; and for her advocacy of scientific integrity and academic freedom”.
Mikhail Yampolsky, professor of the New York University “For his uniquely original contributions as a cultural theorist and commentator, whose work bridges literature, film, philosophy, and social theory; for the breadth and depth of his scholarship, which have reshaped the study of Russian culture and intellectual history; and for his influential critical voice in Russian and international intellectual life” .
“Gamow was a scientist of audacious imagination who pushed the boundaries of theory—most notably by giving the first quantitative account of nuclear decay via quantum tunneling and introducing the modern language of metastable (decaying) states and resonances. Much of today’s work on electronically metastable species, including my own, builds on that foundation. The prize is meaningful to me not only for its scientific lineage but also for the spirit Gamow embodied — curiosity, clarity, and the joy of sharing ideas with broad audiences. I’m honored to carry that legacy forward in both research and public engagement,” notes Anna Krylov.
“What holds particular significance of this Gamow award for me is the high recognition I received from scholars outside the humanities — representatives of the true hard sciences. I have always aspired to transcend the narrow confines of disciplinary specialization,” Mikhail Yampolsky added.
Anna I. Krylov is the USC Associates Chair in Natural Sciences and a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Southern California. Born and raised in the USSR (Donetsk, Ukraine), she earned an M.Sc. from Moscow State University and a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Krylov’s research focuses on theoretical and computational quantum chemistry. She develops electronic-structure methods for open-shell and electronically excited species, including metastable states (resonances). Using these tools, her group investigates light–matter interactions with applications to spectroscopy, combustion, solar energy conversion, bioimaging, and quantum information science. She is the President of Q-Chem, Inc., one of the world’s leading quantum-chemistry software teams. Her work has been recognized by numerous honors, including the Barry Prize of the American Academy of Sciences and Letters, the Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy and many others. An outspoken advocate for academic freedom, Krylov is a founding member of the Academic Freedom Alliance and author of widely read essays on the politicization of science.
Mikhail Yampolsky is historian and theorist of art and culture, philosopher, film critic and philologist. He holds a doctorate in art history. He worked at the Institute of Cinematography and later at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His first visit to the United States was for a year, invited by the Getty Research Institute as a scholar. Afterwards, he joined the faculty at New York University, where he taught for over 30 years and retired in 2024. He is the author of nearly five hundred articles and more than twenty monographs, many of which have been translated into various languages.
“Russian language, culture, and history are a part of who I am. Russian culture and history hold many important lessons for the West: positive ones, such as scientific rigor and excellence in STEM, but cautionary ones, such as the perils of politicizing science, as well. Given the political corruption of Russian scientific institutions and the isolation of Russian science from the West, I believe we — the Russian-speaking scientific diaspora — have a dual role to play: to cultivate and promote the scientific traditions we are proud of while at the same time warning of the dangers of totalitarianism. In addition, we can assist displaced scientists from Ukraine, Russia, and other parts of the former Soviet Union to rebuild their scientific careers in the West. Organizations like RASA are essential to this work,” underlines Krylov.
“I believe that the primary mission of the Russian scientific diaspora is to facilitate the integration of Russian scholars abroad into the global scientific community. I am convinced that such integration is essential for preserving what is commonly referred to as "Russian science”, notes Yampolsky.
The award ceremony will take place as part of the 16th annual conference of the Russian American Science Association (RASA), which will take place on November 15–16, 2025, at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University (New Brunswick, New Jersey) and will be dedicated to the 175th anniversary of Sofya Kovalevskaya — the first woman in the world to earn a doctorate in mathematics and to hold a professorship in Europe.
The RASA award has been established in 2015 in memory of Georgy Antonovich Gamow, an outstanding representative of the scientific diaspora, an influential Soviet and American theoretical physicist, astrophysicist and popularizer of science. Economist Ekaterina Zhuravskaya and computer scientist Vladimir Vapnik are its 2024’s laureates.