Chapter 0: General Notes

Section 0: General Notes

People in the index

Conventions for personal names vary considerably with culture and historical period. I have tried in the index to give all names in the form they might be used on standardized documents in the modern U.S. I have done standard transliterations from non-Latin character sets. I give in full those forenames that I believe are or were most commonly used by a particular individual; for other forenames (including for example Russian patronymics) I give only initials. I normally give formal versions of forenames—though for individuals I have personally known I give in the text the form of forenames I would normally use in addressing them. I have dropped all honorifics or titles, except when they significantly alter a name. When there are several versions of a name, I normally use the one that was current closest to the time of work I mention. For each person in the index I list the country or countries where that person predominantly worked. Note that this may not reflect where the person was born, educated, did military service, or died. Rather, it tries to indicate where the person did the majority of their work, particularly as it relates to this book. I generally refer to countries or regions by the names of their closest present-day approximations, as these might appear in postal addresses. When borders have changed, I tend to favor the country whose language is what the person normally speaks or spoke. I usually list countries in the order that a person has worked in them, ignoring repeats. Note that while many of the people listed are well known, extensive research (often through personal contacts, as well as institutional and government records) was required to track down quite a few of them. (Ending dates are obviously not included for people who died after the writing of this book was finished in January 2002.)

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From Stephen Wolfram: A New Kind of Science [citation]