We show that if an uncountable regular cardinal τ and τ + 1 embed in a topological group G as closed subspaces then G is not normal. We also prove that an uncountable regular cardinal cannot be embedded in a torsion free Abelian group that is hereditarily normal. These results are corollaries to our main results about ordinals in topological groups. To state the main results, let τ be an uncountable regular cardinal and G a T₁ topological group. We prove, among others, the following statements:...