Simon Norton is a mathematician that worked on finite simple groups and co-authored the Atlas of Finite Groups. With John Conway they proved there is a connection with the Monster group and the j-function:monstrous moonshine
There's now a book out titled The Genius in my Basement by Alexander Masters, where he says that Simon Norton stopped doing mathematics after 1985 when John Conway left for America. I find this hard to believe because the book also talks about his immense talent and natural attraction to the subject as a youngster:
- while still at school, gained a first-class external degree from London university
- Won gold at the IMO between '67 and '69 and special prizes twice.
Did he continue to produce mathematical papers after 1985?
I suspect the answer is yes, and would love to know what he did after 1985.
Best Answer
For those without access, here's bibliographical information on Math Reviews for Simon Norton since 2000.
MR2500569 (2010f:11062) Norton, Simon P. Moonshine-type functions and the CRM correspondence. Groups and symmetries, 327–342, CRM Proc. Lecture Notes, 47, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 2009. (Reviewer: Jannis A. Antoniadis), 11F22 (11F03 11F06 20D08)
MR2130835 (2005k:03108) Norton, S. P. Generalizing surreal numbers. Analyzable functions and applications, 347–354, Contemp. Math., 373, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 2005, 03E10 (03E20)
MR1994968 (2004e:20025) Norton, Simon P. Counting nets in the Monster. Groups, combinatorics & geometry (Durham, 2001), 227–232, World Sci. Publ., River Edge, NJ, 2003. (Reviewer: Christopher S. Simons), 20D08 (20D60 20F36)
MR1888424 (2003b:20023) Norton, Simon P.; Wilson, Robert A. Anatomy of the Monster. II. Proc. London Math. Soc. (3) 84 (2002), no. 3, 581–598. (Reviewer: Mohammad-Reza Darafsheh), 20D08 (20E28)
MR1877765 (2002k:20025) Norton, Simon From Moonshine to the Monster. Proceedings on Moonshine and related topics (Montréal, QC, 1999), 163–171, CRM Proc. Lecture Notes, 30, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 2001. (Reviewer: Christopher S. Simons), 20D08 (11F22)
MR1877755 (2002k:20024) Glauberman, George; Norton, Simon P. On McKay's connection between the affine E8 diagram and the Monster. Proceedings on Moonshine and related topics (Montréal, QC, 1999), 37–42, CRM Proc. Lecture Notes, 30, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 2001. (Reviewer: Christopher S. Simons), 20D08 (20F55)
MR1806215 (2001k:20029) Norton, Simon Computing in the Monster. Computational algebra and number theory (Milwaukee, WI, 1996). J. Symbolic Comput. 31 (2001), no. 1-2, 193–201. (Reviewer: Christopher S. Simons), 20D08 (20B25 20C34 20F55)
MR1662447 (2000b:11077) Conway, J. H.; Sloane, N. J. A. Sphere packings, lattices and groups. Third edition. With additional contributions by E. Bannai, R. E. Borcherds, J. Leech, S. P. Norton, A. M. Odlyzko, R. A. Parker, L. Queen and B. B. Venkov. Grundlehren der Mathematischen Wissenschaften [Fundamental Principles of Mathematical Sciences], 290. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1999. lxxiv+703 pp. ISBN: 0-387-98585-9 (Reviewer: Renaud Coulangeon), 11H31 (05B40 11H06 20D08 52C07 52C17 94B75 94C30)