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∂CSL Dr. John Leyerle↓Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
↓434 University Ave., Suite 502↓Toronto, Ontario M5G 1R6↓CANADA∞
.<<416 963-1380>>

Dear Dr. Leyerle:

	This letter must be brief, because I have just returned from
a long trip and am swamped with work.

	I think that Ray Reiter is entirely worthy of a Senior Fellowship
in the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

	The part of Reiter's work with which I am most familiar is
in non-monotonic reasoning, because this is my own major research area at
present.  Reiter's work includes is logic of default reasoning, more
recently some results on my own circumscription formalism, numerous
test examples and his "unique names hypothesis".  He is also responsible
for the "closed world assumption" in database theory.
I am less familiar with Reiter's (and other) work in database theory.

	In general Reiter's work is characterized by logical precision
and applicability to applied problems.  The combination is rare.

	Judging from the rate at which he is producing new ideas, we
can say that he is in the peak period of his scientific career and a
lot can be expected in the next five years.

.sgn