Largest math proof in history formalized: finite simple group classification verified in 43.1M lines of Lean
pickover · x · 2026-10-28
The classification of finite simple groups — the largest proof in human history, spanning thousands of journal pages by 100 mathematicians over decades — has been completely formalized in Lean, with every logical step checked by Lean's kernel.
Scale: 43.1M lines of Lean, 2.05M declarations, 100 milestones, covering 715 papers and books. Along the way the team found counterexamples to a closure assertion in a published route to the Unbalanced Group Theorem, and produced a 35-page paper with an alternative argument built on Solomon's 1976 theory of maximal 2-components. Errata compilation with group theorists is underway.
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