The government's Office of Research Integrity had earlier found Popovic guilty of «relatively minor» misconduct based on what the appeals board called a «handful of words and notations... in one
heavily edited paper written by a scientist with limited English skills during a volatile period of scientific discovery a decade ago».
I want to add to this list my own expressions of thanks to those who made what might have been a difficult undertaking a rewarding one instead: Ruth Hopewell, who gave me the privilege of
editing the book and consistently aided me in doing so; the Directors of Auburn Seminary, who granted a generous leave for my work on the project in Atlanta; Jim Waits and Elizabeth Smith, who anticipated everything I would need for the work to be done comfortably and efficiently; Lurline and James Fowler, who provided housing and friendship; Channing Jeschke, Candler's librarian, who made available and helped to arrange Hopewell's books and
papers; Brooks Holifield, who worked with me on the last and knottiest problems in the text; and David Kelsey, on whose encouragement and sagacity I relied
heavily when my assignment seemed most formidable.