A TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS

1938

Jim Simons born

1958

Simons graduates MIT

1964

Simons becomes code breaker at the IDA

1968

Simons leads math department at Stony Brook University

1974

Simons and Chern publish groundbreaking paper

1978

Simons leaves academia to start Monemetrics, a currency trading firm, and a hedge fund called Limroy

1979

Lenny Baum and James Ax join

1982

Firm's name changes to Renaissance Technologies Corporation

1984

Baum quits

1985

Ax and Straus move the company to California

1988

Simons shuts down Limroy, launches the Medallion fund

1989

Ax leaves, Elwyn Berlekamp leads Medallion

1990

Berlekamp departs, Simons assumes control of the firm and fund

1992

Henry Laufer becomes full-time employee

1993

Peter Brown and Robert Mercer join

1995

Brown, Mercer achieve key breakthrough

2000

Medallion soars 98.5 percent

2005

Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund launches

2007

Renaissance and other quant firms suffer sudden losses

2010

Brown and Mercer take over firm

2017

Mercer steps down as co-CEO