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I have not been able to find an existing question similar to mine, but apologies if I've missed one.
I write an academic dissertation where I mention a lot of people. The first time someone is mentioned, I present him or her with an apposition, usually a title or affiliation, e.g. the physicist Jessica Ronan and the engineer Patrick Boyd. Now suppose that Ronan is mentioned very frequently, while Boyd is only mentioned now and then. Is it considered good practice to avoid repeating the affiliation for Ronan but occasionally repeat it for Boyd?
My intuition is that readers would never lose track of who Ronan is, and therefore always remember her as the physicist. With Boyd, who is only mentioned at every 20-30 pages or so, perhaps the readers need a little reminder at some point. Or is it a good idea to do that also for Ronan?
Don't forget these are not the only two persons in the text, there is about 100 all in all.
I should also add that I have a name index at the back of the book. Does this entirely remove the need for repetitions of the form above?
Example:
Here's an example of a historian that has done something similar (before this quoted passage, Copernicus has already been presented):
Copernicus’s theory remained incomplete, but the German physicist Johannes
Kepler (1571--1630) was able to provide mathematical evidence in its
support, while the Pisan astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564--1642) tested
the Copernican hypothesis empirically by observing the planets through the
telescope, which he had himself perfected.
Taken from page 67 in this book Karen Armstrong "The Battle for God".
Notice that this historian not only mentioned the profession of the persons but also their nationality and birth and death years.
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If this is a question of accepted style then my first stop would be whoever would be likely to receive or review or grade or publish said work. Some bodies have very clear cut ideas about how things should be presented.
However if the focus here is readers then one need only consider their own expectations, memory skills, etc and the importance of the profession on the quote in question. I would personally have no problem with a writer mentioning the profession of a cited example person once each chapter, section or sub-heading.
Going further and assuming that the two mentions of the person are in separate sections and given that there might be no guidance notes available I would ask myself "what if this was an entirely new person?" and "what if someone started reading part way through?" From there I would reintroduce anyone who has long been left unmentioned.
On that score I have seen writers approach the need to remind readers by using the profession as part of what they are saying. For example: "Fred, as an engineer, could see that..."
TL;DR: Find out if there is a manual of style for the context within which you are writing, if there is not or it is not applicable then ask yourself which version is easier or more enjoyable to read (or least confusing).
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