Biographies [A Conversation with Don Knuth]

The Annals is reprinting this interview, more a monologue than a conversation, because Donald E. Knuth is one of the giants of computing. We would like to understand how he developed, what he thought, and how he came by this idea or that as he created his many contributions, not the least of which is the brilliant clarity and comprehensiveness with which he has expresse d and exp lained them. Reprinting is also justified because of the very small intersection between the readership of the Annals and the Two-Year College Mathematics Journal, the original publisher.