John Griggs Thompson (born 13 Oct 1932) is a mathematician noted for his work in the field of finite groups. He received his B.A. from Yale University in 1955 and his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1959 under the supervision of Saunders Mac Lane. In 1970 he moved to Cambridge, England, and later moved to the University of Florida. October 13 is the 286th day of the year (287th in leap years). ... 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... A mathematician is a person whose area of study and research is mathematics. ... In mathematics, a finite group is a group which has finitely many elements. ... A Bachelor of Arts (B.A. or A.B.) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or program in the arts and/or sciences. ... This article is about the institution of higher learning in the United States. ... 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The University of Chicago is a private co-educational university located in Chicago, Illinois. ... 1959 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Saunders Mac Lane (4 August 1909 - 14 April 2005) was a US mathematician. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... The University of Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... Century Tower, University of Florida. ...

Thompson was a key figure in the progress toward the classification of finite simple groups. In 1963, he and Walter Feit proved that all nonabelian finite simple groups are of even order (the Odd Order Paper, filling a whole issue of the Pacific Journal of Mathematics). In the next few years he classified all the minimal finite simple groups: those that contain no other simple groups as subquotients. This work was later extended by many mathematicians to the classification of finite simple groups. Thompson received the Fields Medal in 1970. The classification of the finite simple groups is a vast body of work in mathematics, mostly published between around 1955 and 1983, which is thought to classify all of the finite simple groups. ... 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Walter Feit (October 26, 1930 - July 29, 2004) was a mathematician who worked in finite group theory and representation theory. ... In mathematics, the Feit-Thompson theorem, or odd order theorem, states that every finite group of odd order is solvable. ... link title ... The classification of the finite simple groups is a vast body of work in mathematics, mostly published between around 1955 and 1983, which is thought to classify all of the finite simple groups. ... The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to up to four mathematicians (not over forty years of age) at each International Congress of International Mathematical Union, since 1936 and regularly since 1948 at the initiative of the Canadian mathematican John Charles Fields. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ...

He has also made major contributions to the inverse Galois problem. He found a criterion for a finite group to be a Galois group, that in particular implies that the monster simple group is a Galois group. In mathematics, the inverse Galois problem concerns whether or not we can find a rational field extension with a given Galois group. ... In mathematics, a Galois group is a group associated with a certain type of field extension. ... In mathematics, the Monster group M is a group of order    246 · 320 · 59 · 76 · 112 · 133 · 17 · 19 · 23 · 29 · 31 · 41 · 47 · 59 · 71 = 808017424794512875886459904961710757005754368000000000 ≈ 8 · 1053. ...

External links

• List of mathematical articles by John G. Thompson (http://www.math.ufl.edu/fac/facmr/Thompson.html)
• Genealogy (http://www.genealogy.ams.org/html/id.phtml?id=6488) at the Mathematics Genealogy Project