In mathematics, monstrous moonshine, or moonshine theory, is a term devised by John Horton Conway and Simon P. Norton in 1979, used to describe the (then totally unexpected) connection between the monster group M and modular functions (particularly, the j function).
Read more about Monstrous Moonshine: History, Formal Versions of Conway's and Norton's Conjectures, The Monster Module, Borcherds' Proof, Why "monstrous Moonshine"?
Famous quotes containing the words monstrous and/or moonshine:
“I have’t. It is engendered. Hell and night
Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves,
And ye that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him
When he comes back; you demi-puppets that
By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrooms,”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)