“Besides their possible role in physics, the octonions are important because they tie together some algebraic structures that otherwise appear as isolated and inexplicable exceptions.”

—  John C. Baez

The octonions, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc., 39, 145–205, 2002 http://doi.org/10.1090/S0273-0979-01-00934-X, (p. 147)

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John C. Baez 4
American mathematician and mathematical physicist 1961

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