Topological K-theory was the first seriously studied example of a generalized cohomology theory, leading to the incredibly rich world of spectra and stable homotopy theory that we see today. In this talk we will give a remarkable description of the spectrum KU representing this theory, due to Snaith. We will also look at a generalization of this construction to chromatic homotopy theory due to Westerland, and sketch how it relates to the failure of Ravenel’s Telescope Conjecture.
Snaith's Theorem