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\address
Prof. Juris Hartmanis
Department of Computer Science
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-7501
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Dear Professor Hartmanis:

	Vladimir Lifschitz has asked me to write you about him.

	Although we haven't written joint papers, he has been my
closest colleague at Stanford for about five years.  During this
time he has become a leader in both the mathematical aspects on
nonmonotonic reasoning and in its application to formalizing
common sense knowledge in artificial intelligence.  He is
outstanding among the many good people working on this recently
popular mathematical subject.  However, the second topic is more
important, and he is one of the very few people doing first rate
work in this---probably the best of them.

	In both nonmonotonic reasoning and formalizing common
sense, Lifschitz has been the mathematical conscience of the field.
If something hasn't been proved or the statement is unclear, you
will hear from him.

	His lectures are extremely clear and well prepared.  His
personality is co-operative.

	I will make every effort to make Stanford more attractive
to him, both by trying to get a professorship for him here and by
trying to get longer term commitments from the Government
agencies that support our research.  Unfortunately, Stanford seems
to think it has enough people working in logical aspects of AI.

	However, I have to admit that his moving to Cornell would
also lead to more good people becoming involved in the important
work of developing common sense capability for computers.

	He is clearly qualified for a full professorship.  If you
need comparisons of his work with specific individuals, I'll be
glad to try.

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Sincerely,
John McCarthy
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