Travels with John Conway, in 258 Septillion Dimensions

Unfamiliar with the man beyond basic things like the Game of Life, I had his biography on my to read list for a while. His passing unfortunately propelled it to the top of the pile, and I read it in a few days. Conway truly was a once in history kind of person, and the biography feels so casual yet intimate - it feels a little bit like having lost a friend.

Since, I've been slowly diving into the various books and papers he published - they are all awe inspiring. His proof of Morley's trisector theorem is stunning - I can't wait to share it with nieces and nephews because it is that straightforward, it literally can be taught to young children. A proof for a theorem that stumped all mathematicians for over a century. Just utterly stunning.

I have "Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays" coming in the mail today. Can't wait.

We were blessed to count John amongst us, let's do our best to treat everything with the same playfulness and curiosity that he did.

This story got me to read up on the Monster group, watch the linked https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsSeoGpiWsw and understand at least the basic definitions involved. My newbie take: in the realm of group theory it's as if we've categorized all prime 'numbers' into one of 18 infinite streams or one of 26 'numbers' that don't belong to any such streams. Amazing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_of_finite_simpl...