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