In 1975, Professor Jack H. Hetherington (Michigan State University) wrote a theoretical paper on his own and was about to send it to Physical Review Letters. But a colleague warned that the manuscript would be returned because of an editor's rule that words like "we" and "our" should not be used in a publication with only one author. Dr. Hetherington did not relish revising and retyping the whole text, so, instead, he simply added a co-author: his Siamese cat Chester (sired by Willard). And for legitimacy, he tacked on two more initials, FD (from Felix domesticus) to create "FDC Willard." The Hetherington-Willard article was duly published and Mrs. Hetherington went on sleeping with both authors. Eventually the cat had to be let out of the bag when a visitor came to campus to see Professor Hetherington, found him unavailable, and then asked to speak to Willard.

. . . Willard became bilingual and authored his second paper in 1980 in La Recherche. . . .

But, because of some disagreement about its content, FDC Willard ended up as the sole author. That way if the paper had flaws, the cat could take the rap. Occasionally one sees references to "FDC Willard, private communication." And sometimes in acknowledgements he is thanked for "helpful discussions."

(other cat-facts and such)