2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/230813The cohomology ring of a finite group, with coefficients in a finite field, can be computed by a machine, as Carlson has showed. Here "compute" means to find a presentation in terms of generators and relations, and involves only the underlying (graded) ring. We propose a method to determine some of the extra structure: namely, Stiefel-Whitney classes and Steenrod operations. The calculations are explicitly carried out for about one hundred groups (the results can be consulted on the Internet). Next, we give an application: thanks to the new information gathered, we can in many cases determine which cohomology classes are supported by algebraic varieties.To appear in Ann. Inst. FourierAlgebraic Topology20J06;57R20; 65K05; 14C15text