Reference for some R.T. Curtis articles and thesis

Question

I'm reading R.T. Curtis "Symmetric generation of groups", since interested in yet another way of seeing M12 and M24 construction. Actually this book refers to many seminal articles by the same author, mainly:

Natural constructions of the Mathieu groups, 1989

Geometric interpretations of the ‘natural’ generators of the Mathieu groups

, but I cannot find them on the net, neither for free nor purchasing them.

I would also be interested in Curtis' PhD Thesis, eventually:

M 24 and related topics

Is anyone of you aware where could I find some of them, please?

Thanks

Riccardo

Answer 1

The most obvious thing to do is to contact the author, Prof. Rob Curtis at the University of Birmingham, and ask him directly. His email can be found on the webpage.

Answer 2

I found links to the papers almost immediately by DuckDuckGo-ing:

• Natural constructions of the Mathieu groups, 1989

• Geometric interpretations of the ‘natural’ generators of the Mathieu groups

For the thesis, it is from 1972 and so it is unlikely that it is, or will ever be, digitised (even if you email him!). Which means you would have to access it through a library. Both the British library and the University of Cambridge library should have a copy. If you are at a university then you can try and put a request through for the thesis to be sent to you. (This may cost money though.)