Symmetry and the Monster : One of the greatest quests of mathematics

The 'Monster of Symmetry' is a giant snowflake in 196,884 dimensions - with a beautiful structure which may turn out to unlock the very fabric of our universe. The story of the hunt for the monster, and its eventual discovery, became the biggest joint mathematical project of all time - involving determination, luck, and some very extraordinary characters.

Imagine a giant snowflake in 196,884 dimensions... This is the story of a mathematical quest that began two hundred years ago in revolutionary France, led to the biggest collaboration ever between mathematicians across the world, and revealed the ''Monster'' - not monstrous at all, but a structure of exquisite beauty and complexity. Told here for the first time in accessible prose, it is a story that involves brilliant yet tragic characters, curious number ''coincidences'' that led to breakthroughs in the mathematics of symmetry, and strange crystals that reach into many dimensions. And it is a story that is not yet over, for we have yet to understand the deep significance of the Monster - and its tantalizing hints of connections with the physical structure of spacetime. Once we understand the full nature of the Monster, we may well have revealed a whole new and deeper understanding of the nature of our Universe.