In the mathematical branch of moonshine theory, a supersingular prime is a prime number that divides the order of the Monster group M, which is the largest sporadic simple group.
There are precisely fifteen supersingular prime numbers: the first eleven primes 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, and 31; as well as 41, 47, 59, and 71 (sequence A002267 in the OEIS).
Supersingular primes are related to the notion of supersingular elliptic curves as follows.
More precisely, in 1975 Ogg showed that the primes satisfying the first condition are exactly the 15 supersingular primes listed above and shortly thereafter learned of the (then conjectural) existence of a sporadic simple group having exactly these primes as prime divisors.
This strange coincidence was the beginning of the theory of monstrous moonshine.