Jacqueline was a nuclear physicist born of a seventh generation Wasp(1) American family. Nicholai was a Russian Orthodox, Siberian quantum physicist who met Jacqueline at a multi disciplinary international conference at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore that summer. It was love at first sight with total mutual understanding of their personalities.

Nicholai applied for American citizenship and, such was the international regard Nicholai’s work was held in, the US authorities fast tracked citizenship to avoid Nicholai’s return to Russia. The couple married in Los Angeles and the work their collaboration resulted in amazed the world and made the US intelligence services pat themselves on the back for their speedy furtherance of Nicholai’s acceptance as a US citizen.

Jacqueline and Nicholai had three daughters and a son, but, despite their children's knowledge of the matter since early childhood, it was only decades after their deaths that it was realised that their relationship was that of a lesbian couple.

1 Wasp, White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant.