ThanksAndAcknowledgements1

Deepest gratitude for lessons learned:

From my parents, Minnie Merle Meinke Zimmermann and Werner Edward Zimmermann — to learn joyfully, to live modestly, and to work patiently.
From my brother, Keith Allen Zimmermann — to share, to play, to forgive, and to accept forgiveness.
From my wife, Paulette Dickerson — to love, to respect, to tolerate, and to listen.
From my children, Merle McKinley Dickerson Zimmermann, Gray Elizabeth Zimmermann Dickerson, and Robin Hamilton Dickerson Zimmermann — to plan ahead, to expect the unexpected, to teach, to protect, and to serve with good cheer.
From Martin Gardner, Scientific American columnist — to enjoy thinking with courage as an amateur, and to value an eclectic, heterogeneous collection of knowledge and patterns.
From Kip S. Thorne, thesis advisor — to see how brilliance and method may combine to illuminate deep problems, the critical importance of focusing on the right questions, and the value of perseverance through thickets of complexity in a relentless quest for simplification and understanding..

Sunday, April 11, 1999 at 20:20:35 (EDT) = 1999-04-11