The George Gamow® Award is awarded annually to members of the Russian-speaking scientific diaspora for outstanding contributions to science. This year, the award goes to Harriman Faculty Member, Mark Lipovetsky for original studies of modern Russian literature, in particular postmodernism, in a broad cultural context, and to biochemist Vadim Gladyshev (Harvard University) for characterization of selenoproteins and molecular mechanisms of aging, and for contribution to the development of collaborations across the borders.