Lunchmaths is a series of fun mathematics lectures, intended to be accessible and of interest to undergrads with a minimum of maths background. Bring along your sandwiches. Tea/Coffee provided.
 

Over the last 20 years, the modular function has become famous for its miraculous intervention in two great mathematical achievements: the proof of Fermat's last theorem and the "moonshine" of the monster simple group.

However, these were not the first modular miracles. In the 19th century, the modular function produced amazing results on the quintic equation, class numbers of quadratic forms, and the mysterious number $e^{\pi\sqrt{163}}$. This talk will discuss some of the early results, and sketch their connection to recent discoveries.