The research project Big Mathematics? The Classification of Finite Simple Groups, 1950s to 1980 will be funded by the German Research Foundation. The Classification of Finite Simple Groups (CFSG), also known as the enormous theorem, is a highlight of 20th-century mathematics, both with respect to its mathematical content and to the complex process of proving the result.
In this project, Volker Remmert (Wuppertal) and Rebecca Waldecker (mathematics, MLU Halle-Wittenberg) intend to thoroughly analyze the history of the CFSG and use it as a magnifying glass to study the history of mathematics and the mathematical community in the context of the Cold War (e.g. the impact of politics on research in pure mathematics in the Cold War, namely via new possibilities of funding research in general and of mathematical research in particular, a largely unexplored territory). Further information can be found here.
