Simon P. Norton

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Simon P. Norton
Born(1952-02-28)28 February 1952
Died14 February 2019(2019-02-14) (aged 66)
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
Thesis F and Other Simple Groups  (1976)
Doctoral advisorJohn Horton Conway

Simon Phillips Norton (28 February 1952 – 14 February 2019)[1] was a mathematician in Cambridge, England, who worked on finite simple groups.

Education

Simon Norton was born into a

Sephardi family of Iraqi descent, the youngest of three brothers.[2]

From 1964 he was a King's Scholar at Eton College, where he earned a reputation as an eccentric mathematical genius and was taught by Norman Routledge. He obtained an external first-class degree in Pure Mathematics at the University of London while still at the school, commuting to Royal Holloway College.

He also represented the United Kingdom at the International Mathematical Olympiad thrice consecutively starring from 1967, winning a gold medal each time and two special prizes in 1967 and 1969.[3]

He then went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, and achieved a first in the final examinations.

Career and life

He stayed at Cambridge, working on

Snort
.

In 1985, Cambridge University did not renew his contract.

Norton is the subject of the biography The Genius in My Basement, written by his Cambridge tenant,

Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics
.

Norton was very interested in transport issues and was a member of Subterranea Britannica. He coordinated the local group of the Campaign for Better Transport (United Kingdom), and had done so since the organisation was known as Transport 2000, writing most of the newsletter for the local Cambridge group[6] and tirelessly campaigning for efficient, inclusive and environmentally friendly public transport in the region and across the United Kingdom.

He collapsed and died in north London, aged 66, of a heart condition on 14 February 2019.[1]

Selected publications

  • Cummins, C. J.; Norton, S. P. (1995). "Rational Hauptmoduls are replicable".
    S2CID 123645483
    .
  • Norton, S. P. (1996). "Non-monstrous moonshine". In Arasu, K. T.; Dillon, J. F.; Harada, K.; Sehgal, S.; Solomon, R. (eds.). Groups, Difference Sets, and the Monster: Proceedings of a Special Research Quarter at The Ohio State University, Spring 1993. pp. 433–441. .
  • Norton, S.P. (1996). "Free transposition groups". .
  • Norton, S. P. (1998). "Anatomy of the Monster: I". In Curtis, Robert T.; Wilson, Robert A. (eds.). The Atlas of Finite Groups: Ten Years On. London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series, 249. pp. 198–214. .
  • Norton, Simon (2001). "Computing in the Monster". Journal of Symbolic Computation. 31 (1–2): 193–201. .
  • Norton, Simon P.; .

References

  1. ^ a b [1] Obituary: Daily Telegraph
  2. ^ Tessler, Gloria (28 March 2019). "Obituary: Simon Norton". The Jewish Chronicle.
  3. ^ https://www.imo-official.org/participant_r.aspx?id=10021
  4. ^ "Cambridgeshire Campaign for Better Transport Homepage". Archive of the Cambridgeshire Campaign for Better Transport. Cambridgeshire Campaign for Better Transport. 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2022.

External links