Simon and the ATLAS
5:30PM, 5 Mar 2026
In the third Simon Norton Lecture, Robert Curtis will describe Simon’s pivotal contributions to the classic ATLAS of Finite Groups.
Simon Norton, who died in February 2019, is best remembered by mathematicians for his remarkable contributions to group theory. A child prodigy, Norton earned a First in mathematics from the University of London while he was still studying at Eton College.
Later, at Cambridge University, he collaborated with John Conway on several influential projects, co-authoring a landmark paper on monstrous moonshine. Published in 1979, the paper proposed a deep connection between the monster group and the j-function. The seemingly far-fetched conjecture was proved in 1992 by Richard Borcherds and is now recognised as one of the great unifying conjectures in modern mathematics.
Simon was also an important contributor to the five-author ATLAS of Finite Groups—a definitive catalogue of symmetry types, containing essential information on the sporadic simple groups and the smaller members of the infinite families. In the third Simon Norton Lecture, Prof. Robert Curtis discusses Simon’s involvement in the ATLAS from its inception to its publication, explaining the crucial role finite groups play across mathematics and science.
Event information
The event takes place on Thursday 5 March at the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences, which is on the second floor of the Royal Institution. To book a place, email smc@lims.ac.uk.
Programme
- 5:30pm Arrival and drinks, Old Post Room.
- 6:00pm Prof. Yang-Hui He, Introduction, Tyndall seminar room.
- 6:10pm Prof. Robert Curtis, “Simon Norton and the ATLAS of Finite Groups”
- 7:10pm Drinks and canapes, Old Post room
Speakers
Prof. Robert Curtis is Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham. His research focuses on finite groups and the symmetric generation of groups. He completed his PhD at Cambridge under the supervision of John Conway and was a co-author of the ATLAS of Finite Groups.