"Wolfram is careful never to actually claim credit for something he hasn't produced; however, he's good at wording the main text so that it implies he has discovered things. "
I would not be surprised if this writing was much of the same.
I don't think you're being fair here. He's just sharing lore he had to become familiar with during his graduate school years. Such stories are part of the experience.
BTW he's written a fine summary of the history of particle physics during those years, which is rare indeed, because you have to be an insider to care about such things and then have the opportunities to get them straight. He's a theoretical particle physicist talking about his profession after all, even though he's been busy with other stuff for many years. Of course he can write this.
Folks here should really read the article. I just can't tell anything about the personal anecdotes, but everything else is spot on.
I can assure you staff do not write for him. In fact, he's known to get frustrated when people make suggestions on his writing because he's very particular (perhaps even stubborn) about it.
I don't find that the article you linked supports the 'most gifted doing the actual production.' I found the main thrust of the article rather the opposite.
I do agree he has a reputation and that the points in the lurklurk article are valid. Clearly anyone well-read enough can pick out the inaccuracies and the presentation is sometimes way out of scope for normal scientific publishing standards.
In my opinion, to sell copies some some publishers like to fly a bit too close to the sun but that's industry standard now.
