When I read Rhodes' "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" (an excellent book, btw), one thing jumped out at me regarding physics research centers in the first half of

When I read Rhodes' "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" (an excellent book, btw), one thing jumped out at me regarding physics research centers in the first half of the 20th century. PhD students and postdoctoral research fellows may have been engaged (commonly for many years to someone back home), but were expected not to wed. You were supposed to throw yourself entirely at your field of research in the beginning of your career, and place the rest of your life entirely on hold.