Twelve Sporadic Groups

The finite simple groups are basic objects in algebra since many questions about general finite groups can be reduced to questions about the simple groups. Finite simple groups occur naturally in certain infinite families, but not so for all of them: the exceptions are called sporadic groups, a term used in the classic book of Burnside [Bur] to refer to the five Mathieu groups. There are twenty six sporadic groups, not definitively organized by any simple theme. The largest of these is the ...