Barbara Perkins Gamow


Barbara Merrihew Perkins "Perky" Gamow was an American publicity manager, editor and translator.

Early life

Barbara Merrihew Perkins was born in San Francisco, California, on May 22, 1905.

Career

From 1950 to 1958 she was a publicity manager for the Cambridge University Press.
She mainly worked in the publishing business. From 1958 to 1970, after marrying George Gamow, Barbara Gamow became the editor and translator of her husband.
She also wrote verse for some of her husband's books, including Faust; Eine Historie.

Personal life

In 1938 she married J. R. de la Torre Bueno, scholar and editor, and divorced around 1943. In 1958 she married George Gamow.
Her circle of friends included E. E. Cummings and his wife Marion Morehouse, Edward Niles Hooker, Albert Guerard, Stan Brakhage, John Larson, Evelyn Hooker, Bernard Friedlander, Raymong Peckham Holden, James Broughton, Charles Norman, Eda Lord, Sybille Bedford, Garner James, and Morgan Shepard.
She died in December 1975 and is buried at Green Mountain Cemetery, Boulder, Colorado.

Legacy

Barbara Gamow created a fund for the Department of Physics aimed to finance The George Gamow Memorial Lecture series at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
The George Gamow and Barbara Gamow Papers, 1915-1975 are hosted at the Library of Congress.