 During the period 1931–1933, Gamow worked in the Physical Department of the Radium Institute (Leningrad) headed by .Europe's first cyclotron was designed under the guidance and direct participation of Igor Kurchatov, Lev Mysovskii and Gamow.In 1932, Gamow and Mysovskii submitted a draft design for consideration by the Academic Council of the Radium Institute, which approved it.