A Gamow bag (pronounced Gam-Off) is an inflatable pressure bag large enough to accommodate a person inside. By inflating the bag with a foot pump, the effective altitude can be decreased by 1000 to as much as 3000 meters (3281 to 9743 feet). It is primarily used for treating severe cases of altitude sickness.
The gamow bag was named after its inventor, Dr. Igor Gamow, son of George Gamow. Dr. Gamow originally designed a predecessor to the gamow bag called "The Bubble" for high-altitude athletes. This would produce more red blood cells to carry more oxygen to the muscles, increasing the athlete's abilities. However, this invention was not well-received despite glowing reviews. The equipment was deemed too bulky and susceptible to overheating.
Dr. Gamow persisted, and re-designed 'The Bubble' into a bag that could be used by high-altitude climbers.
Famous quotes containing the word bag:
“English general and singular terms, identity, quantification, and the whole bag of ontological tricks may be correlated with elements of the native language in any of various mutually incompatible ways, each compatible with all possible linguistic data, and none preferable to another save as favored by a rationalization of the native language that is simple and natural to us.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)