Instructor:  Dr. József PELIKÁN

Text: handouts

Prerequisite: a general finite group theory course

Course description:
The aim is to give an overview of the known finite simple groups with emphasis on the classical groups, certain exceptional groups and some sporadic groups.

Topics:
General, special linear groups and their projective counterparts. Symplectic groups. Unitary groups. The three families of finite orthogonal groups.
Suzuki groups and the corresponding geometries.
The five Mathieu groups, Steiner sytems, Golay codes. The Higman-Sims group. Leech's lattice and the three Conway groups. The Monster group.