Colloquium
3:00 p.m., Friday (October 7, 2005)
Math Annex 1100
Stephen Smith
University of Illinois at Chicago
Quasithin groups and the classification of the finite simple groups
The classification of the finite simple groups was a vast project involving
hundreds of mathematicians in work covering thousands of journal pages, reaching
its climax around 1981.
Unfortunately one part of that work, namely the lengthy classification of
"quasithin" groups by Mason, was never published. This gap has recently been
filled by the publication in November 2004 (Surveys and Monographs of the AMS,
vols. 111 and 112) of a more general classification of quasithin groups by
Aschbacher and Smith.
The talk will be expository, including some of the history of the overall
classification of simple groups, and indicating the place of the quasithin
groups within that project; and will lead up to the more general context
involved in the Aschbacher-Smith work.
Refreshments will be served at 2:45 p.m. (MATX 1115, Math Faculty Lounge).
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