Monstrous moonshine
- Date
- 1979 · confidence high
- Place
- Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- John McKay, John Conway and Simon P. Norton
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
An unexpected connection between the monster group M and modular functions, in particular the j function; numerically observed by John McKay in 1978 and named «monstrous moonshine» by John Conway and Simon Norton in 1979.
What it led to
- Development of the theory of vertex operator algebras
- Proof of the moonshine conjectures by Richard Borcherds (Fields Medal, 1998)
- Later connection with string theory and mathematical physics