Gell, Josephine Mary, Mann-, née Dow, was an Exhibitioner at Newnham College, Cambridge, 1949-1952, where she read Classics. She participated in the 1950 Mycenae excavation. She was then a student in Classical Archaeology and a scholar of Bryn Mawr College, USA, and also ESU Scholar, 1952-1953. She became Resident Assistant to Prof. Goldman at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA 1953-1954. In 1955 she married Murray Gell-Mann and they had two children, Elizabeth (Lisa) and Nicholas.