Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI, Perimeter, PITP) is an independent research centre in foundational theoretical physics located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1999. The institute's founding and major benefactor is Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Mike Lazaridis.
The original building, designed by Saucier + Perrotte, opened in 2004 and was awarded a Governor General's Medal for Architecture in 2006. The Stephen Hawking Centre, designed by Teeple Architects, was opened in 2011 and was LEED Silver certified in 2015.
In addition to research, Perimeter also provides scientific training and educational outreach activities to the general public. This is done in part through Perimeter's Educational Outreach team.
History
In 1999, Howard Burton—who had a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Waterloo—emailed Mike Lazaridis along with 20 CEO's in an attempt to leave his Wall Street job. Lazaridis then pitched the idea of the Perimeter Institute to Burton as he wanted to use his BlackBerry wealth for a philanthropic endeavour. Lazaridis' initial donation of $100 million was announced on October 23, 2000, believed to be the biggest private donation in Canadian history to that point. Jim Balsille and Doug Fregin each donated $10 million. The city of Waterloo offered four sites of land for free; Lazaridis chose the former site of the Waterloo Memorial Arena (near Uptown Waterloo).
Research operations began in 2001, in a temporary site in a nearby post office. Burton became the Institute's founding director. The permanent building's construction finished in 2004. The Ontario budget, announced in March 2006, included a commitment to provide $50 million in funding to PI from the Ministry of Research and Innovation.
In May 2008, Dr. Neil Turok, a cosmologist, was appointed as Perimeter Institute's director replacing Howard Burton. Lazaridis donated a subsequent $50 million on June 4, 2008. In November 2008, it was announced that physicist Stephen Hawking would take the position of Distinguished Visiting Research Chair, a visiting position, at the institute.
Designed by Teeple Architects, a new expansion, the Stephen Hawking Centre at Perimeter Institute, was completed in September 2011. The centre's grand opening was in September 2011 and included a video greeting from Hawking, who rarely traveled due to disability. This was the first-ever Gold Seal-managed project in Ontario, it attained LEED Silver certification in 2015.
On February 28, 2019, Dr. Robert Myers was appointed as the director of the Perimeter Institute, replacing Dr. Neil Turok.
Design
The Institute was designed by Montréal-based architectural firm Saucier + Perrotte. A concrete stairwell in the building's atrium was designed by Blackwell Engineers. The Institute's front aluminum wall is black with small windows to represent a blackboard. There are wooden fireplaces and blackboards throughout the building. Writing for The Globe and Mail, architecture critic Lisa Rochon praised the Institute's "seamless connections" between the building's interior and exterior and said the building is about "the flow of light and the directions we can take". Rochon described the building as modernism, and cited Tadao Ando as an influence.
Research
Perimeter's research encompasses nine fields: Cosmology Mathematical physics Particle Physics Quantum fields and strings Quantum foundations Quantum gravity Quantum information Quantum matter Strong gravity
Programs
Perimeter Institute Recorded Seminar Archive (PIRSA) An extensive, up-to-date archive of the institute's varied research activities is readily available to the public via the internet. The Perimeter Institute Recorded Seminar Archive (PIRSA), is a permanent, free, searchable, and citable archive of recorded seminars, conferences, workshops and outreach events. Seminars with video and timed presentation materials can be accessed on-demand in Windows and Flash formats together with MP3 audio files and PDFs of the supporting materials. The PIRSA project is enlarged by the creation of SciTalks (See below).