The dilemma of attribution

Editor's Note: This article is a version of H. David Politzer's Nobel Lecture, "The Dilemma of Attribution." The 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Drs. Politzer, Frank Wilczek, and David J. Gross for their discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction. The Nobel Foundation graciously has granted us permission to reprint this article. The Nobel Lectures provide examples of successful approaches to major scientific problems. However, in recent years, these lectures have rarely been read, perhaps because of the difficulty in obtaining the collections. By reprinting this lecture, we hope to broaden their exposure.