From the ``last interview'' with A. N. Kolmogorov. (Q5949279)

Editor's note: The great Russian mathematician Andreĭ Nikolaevich Kolmogorov was open and outgoing with friends, but rarely granted interviews; few direct records of conversations with him survive. Fortunately, the film-maker Aleksandr Nikolaevich Marutyan, in planning his successful 1983 film `Stories on Kolmogorov', tape-recorded long, wide-ranging conversations in which he explored areas of potential use for the film. After Kolmogorov's death in 1987, the unique interest of these tapes was recognized by V. M. Tikhomirov, with whom they had been left. The enormous task of transcription of the fragmentary (sometimes incomprehensible) materials was undertaken by Natal'ya Grigor'evna Khimchenko. The full printed text she prepared circulated privately, and recently became available in the book `Phenomenon extraordinaire' (in Russian), Moskva: Izd. FAZIS (1999; Zbl 1055.01500) devoted to Kolmogorov. For presentation to the general reader, it seemed appropriate to sift the materials and put them in some kind of order. Fortunately for the mathematical public, Khimchenko returned to her labors, editing and organizing the text and translating it into English. Thanks also go to Tikhomirov and Ya. G. Sinaĭ for advice, to Smilka Zdravkovska for great help in the final editing, and of course to Marutyan for conducting the interview in the first place. In the original interview, Marutyan often doubled back on a topic several times. The editing process, aimed at unifying and at reducing repetition, sometimes juxtaposes passages from different points in the tapes.