Sporadic Groups provides for the first time a self-contained treatment of the foundations of the theory of sporadic groups accessible to mathematicians with a basic background in finite groups, such as in the author's text Finite Group Theory. Introductory material useful for studying the sporadics, such as a discussion of large extraspecial 2-subgroups and Tits' coset geometries, opens the book. A construction of the Mathieu groups as the automorphism groups of Steiner systems follows. The Golay and Todd modules and the 2-local geometry for M24 are discussed. This is followed by the standard...

This second edition develops the foundations of finite group theory. For students already exposed to a first course in algebra, it serves as a text for a course on finite groups. For the reader with some mathematical sophistication but limited knowledge of finite group theory, the book supplies the basic background necessary to begin to read journal articles in the field. It also provides the specialist in finite group theory with a reference on the foundations of the subject. Unifying themes include the Classification Theorem and the classical linear groups. Lie theory appears in chapters on...

This second edition develops the foundations of finite group theory. For students already exposed to a first course in algebra, it serves as a text for a course on finite groups. For the reader with some mathematical sophistication but limited knowledge of finite group theory, the book supplies the basic background necessary to begin to read journal articles in the field. It also provides the specialist in finite group theory with a reference on the foundations of the subject. Unifying themes include the Classification Theorem and the classical linear groups. Lie theory appears in chapters on...

Sporadic Groups provides for the first time a self-contained treatment of the foundations of the theory of sporadic groups accessible to mathematicians with a basic background in finite groups, such as in the author's text Finite Group Theory. Introductory material useful for studying the sporadics, such as a discussion of large extraspecial 2-subgroups and Tits' coset geometries, opens the book. A construction of the Mathieu groups as the automorphism groups of Steiner systems follows. The Golay and Todd modules and the 2-local geometry for M24 are discussed. This is followed by the standard...

In 1970 Bernd Fischer proved his beautiful theorem classifying the almost simple groups generated by 3-transpositions, and in the process discovered three new sporadic groups, now known as the Fischer groups. Since then, the theory of 3-transposition groups has become an important part of finite simple group theory, but Fischer's work has remained unpublished. 3-Transposition Groups contains the first published proof of Fischer's Theorem, written out completely in one place. Fischer's result, while important and deep (covering a number of complex examples), can be understood by any student...

In 1970 Bernd Fischer proved his beautiful theorem classifying the almost simple groups generated by 3-transpositions, and in the process discovered three new sporadic groups, now known as the Fischer groups. Since then, the theory of 3-transposition groups has become an important part of finite simple group theory, but Fischer's work has remained unpublished. 3-Transposition Groups contains the first published proof of Fischer's Theorem, written out completely in one place. Fischer's result, while important and deep (covering a number of complex examples), can be understood by any student...

With the classification of finite groups an era of research in that subject ended. In this symposium volume twenty-nine key figures in the classification programme analyse the likely directions research will take in the future.

Around 1980, G Mason announced the classification of a certain subclass of a class of finite simple groups known as 'quasithin groups'. The classification of the finite simple groups depends upon a proof that there are no unexpected groups in this subclass

Around 1980, G. Mason announced the classification of a certain subclass of an important class of finite simple groups known as quasithin groups. The classification of the finite simple groups depends upon a proof that there are no unexpected groups in this subclass. Unfortunately Mason neither completed nor published his work. In the Main Theorem of this two-part book (Volumes 111 and 112 in the AMS series, Mathematical Surveys and Monographs) the authors provide a proof of a stronger theorem classifying a larger class of groups, which is independent of Mason's arguments. In particular, this...

A fusion system over a p-group S is a category whose objects form the set of all subgroups of S, whose morphisms are certain injective group homomorphisms, and which satisfies axioms first formulated by Puig that are modelled on conjugacy relations in finite groups. The definition was originally motivated by representation theory, but fusion systems also have applications to local group theory and to homotopy theory. The connection with homotopy theory arises through classifying spaces which can be associated to fusion systems and which have many of the nice properties of p-completed...