Balabukha, Andrei. "Appendiks"
Title trans.: "Appendix"
Divergence: 1832 CE
What if: French mathematician Evariste Gaulois was not killed in an 1832 duel.
Summary: Aliens come upon an Earth destroyed by nuclear war and fix things up by introducing a duel into Gaulois' life.
Comments: Allohistorical content is minimal. The apparent result of Gaulois' longer life is that his discoveries led to knowledge of nuclear weaponry before mankind was "ready".
Published: In Fantastika 67, Molodaia gvardiia, 1968.
Original in: Russian.
Translation: English by Roger DeGaris as "Appendix", in World's Spring (ed. Vladimir Gakov), Macmillan 1981 (0025421808).