Symmetry and the Monster: One of the greatest quests of mathematics [Hardcover]

...includes entertaining glimpses of the personalities involved ...but best of all gives an admirable amount of detail... (TLS )

a fascinating book that will appeal to anyone with an appetite for exploration and discovery, and which is accessble to all.

...includes entertaining glimpses of the personalities involved ...but best of all gives an admirable amount of detail... TLS a fascinating book that will appeal to anyone with an appetite for exploration and discovery, and which is accessble to all.

'Ronan does a good job of describing the mathematics in broad strokes and...why mathematicians get excited about these questions.' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

'[Brings] to the fore an aspect of mathematics that some popularizers miss - that math is...a living tradition...' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

'Ronan tells a good story, and in doing so he paints a convincing picture of how mathematicians conduct their research.' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Ronan unfolds his story with admirable verve and clarity... includes entertaining glimpses of the personalities involved... and gives an admirable amount of detail concerning the actual substance of their work. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Ronan does a good job of describing the mathematics in broad strokes and giving a flavour of what is happening and - more importantly - why mathematicians get excited about these questions --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

his book tells for the first time the fascinating story of the biggest theorem ever to have been proved... [he]graphically describes ... the last few decades of the chase and the intriguing characters who led it. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Ronan tells a good story, and in doing so he paints a convincing picture of how mathematicians conduct their research. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Mathematics is being driven forward by the quest to solve a small number of major problems - generating excitement in the mathematical world and beyond. Four famous challenges have been Fermat's Last Theorem, the Riemann Hypothesis, Poincaré's Conjecture, and, now, the quest for the 'Monster' of Symmetry. It is this latter that forms the topic of this book. Although its roots go back much further, the quest to understand symmetry really begins with the tragic young genius Evariste Galois, who died at the age of 20 in a duel. He used symmetry to understand algebraic equations, and he discovered that there were building blocks or 'atoms of symmetry'. Most fit into a table, rather like the periodic table of elements, but there are 26 exceptions. The biggest of these was dubbed 'the Monster' - a giant snowflake in 196,884 dimensions. At first the Monster was only dimly seen. Did it really exist, or was it a mirage? Many mathematicians became involved. The Monster became clearer, and it was no longer monstrous but a beautiful form that pointed out deep connections between symmetry, string theory, and the very fabric and form of the universe. The story of the discovery involves some extraordinary characters, and Mark Ronan brings these people to life, and recreates in accessible language the growing excitement of what became the biggest joint project ever in the field of mathematics - the hunt for the Monster.

Mark Ronan is a Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a Visiting Professor of Mathematics at University College London, having held previous academic positions in Berlin, in Braunschweig, and in Birmingham where he was Mason Professor of Mathematics in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In his early career he worked on the fringes of the Classification program and knew personally all the main people involved in the modern part of this story. His work is now on
geometric structures exhibiting symmetry, on which he has written numerous research papers, and a textbook published by Academic Press in 1989.