Paul, I've lost a couple of names.

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Jan Lundquist
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Paul, I've lost a couple of names.

Post by Jan Lundquist »

There was a Ruby, one's of Stephenson's assistants, who met Linda and family in San Francisco upon their return from Hawaii. Linda has said that it was also she who accompanied Townsend to the States after his release from the hospital in England. I believe her first name was Evelyn. Was the last name McBurnett, or McBarnett, or someone else entirely?

I also recall seeing a photo of a gentleman Townsend and Jo, that seems to have been taken on the banks of the Potomoc during the time they were divorced. Do you recall the name? For some reason, I think he was identified as George Gamow, which I found surprising. What would the man known for DNA/RNA discoveries have in common with Radar guy?

If he was, indeed Gamow, then perhaps Wiki has provided a clue:
During World War II, Gamow did not work directly on the Manhattan Project producing the atomic bomb, in spite of his knowledge of radioactivity and nuclear fusion. He continued to teach physics at George Washington University and consulted for the US Navy.
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Jan Lundquist
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Re: Paul, I've lost a couple of names.

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I rolled the dice on Evelyn McBarnett and came up lucky. There are several mentions of her as a researcher for M-I5 and as a collaborator in Peter Wright's search for a high placed mole within the organization. (documented in Wright's Spycatcher)

Her work has been connected with, among others, the cases of atomic spy, Klaus Fuchs, and the un-prosecuted John Cairncross, a member of the infamous Philby gang, .

From Spooks the Unofficial History of MI5 From the First Atom Spy to 7/7 1945-2009
By Thomas Hennessey, Claire Thomas · 2011 https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sp ... =en&gbpv=0
Screen Shot 2023-06-04 at 1.59.50 PM.png
There is also a whiff of an indication that she might have had some sort of Canadian connection, via the Gouzenko Affair. Gouzenko, a lieutentant in the GRU and cipher clerk in the Soviet embassy in Ottawa, defected three days after the end of the war. The information he brought with him, concerning atomic spies and British moles, has been credited with beginning the Cold War.

Twigsnapper always admonished us to Remember the women. Ruby, ya did some good work there, girlfriend!
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Paul Schatzkin
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Re: Paul, I've lost a couple of names.

Post by Paul Schatzkin »

Hi Jan,

I'm just catching up on this after opening the forum to round up some info for something else I'm working on today.

It looks to me like you answered your own question re: 'Ruby,' is that right? Evelyn McBarnett, who makes a brief appearance on pg 182 along with the photo of Josephine in her supposed courier role in the late 1930s.

Just the use of the word 'mole' in what you've unearthed here dovetails nicely with the stories about Pearl Harbor, Philby, etc.

Re: Gamow (completely new name to me):
During World War II, Gamow did not work directly on the Manhattan Project producing the atomic bomb, in spite of his knowledge of radioactivity and nuclear fusion. He continued to teach physics at George Washington University and consulted for the US Navy.
Nuclear fusion? Is that right, or is the a typo? The 'atomic' bomb is nuclear fission, not fusion. I'm no authority on The Manhattan Project, but I don't recall ever hearing 'fusion' mentioned in that context. On the other hand, Edward Teller was in Los Alamos, and he was always pushing for the 'super' – aka a thermonuclear (fusion) bomb. He got his wish in the 1952. And he shows up in our story in the 1960s – so these connections get ever more intricate.

I am also presently intrigued with those highly qualified individuals who did not participate in The Manhattan Project, Philo Farnsworth chief among them. He was approached and declined. I will have to add George Gamow to that list.

--P
Paul Schatzkin, author of 'The Man Who Mastered Gravity' https://amz.run/6afz
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It's "a multigenerational project." What's your hurry?
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"We will just sail away from the Earth, as easily as this boat pushed away from the dock" - TTB
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Jan Lundquist
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Re: Paul, I've lost a couple of names.

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Nuclear fusion? Is that right, or is the a typo?
Yeah, I know. Straight from Wiki's whiskers. Is it a typo, or another tip to sneaky business?



When it comes to my knowledge of Browniana, I've been double dipped. First by your V1 book, then by the opportunity to chew over characters and episodes with Linda. We mulled and mulled and worried at them like Yorkies with an ox bone, so I have vivid recollections of assorted parts of the tale.

And then of course, I had the privilege of digging into the Brown family archives as well, so perhaps I have been triple dipped.

A Beautiful Mind" board/aka crazy board of TTB and his life would require a room full of red yarn running from side to side and top to bottom. And you and I are standing in the the doorway,, saying, "There's got to be a Townsend in there somewhere."

Congratulations on the German inquiry! Since this is a never ending-story, you may uncover more pieces between now and October.
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