Prof Stephen Hawking to visit Perimeter Institute this summer

Waterloo, ON – Prof Stephen Hawking will visit the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo this summer to conduct scientific research and participate in a televised outreach event. The announcement was made today by Dr Neil Turok, director of the institute.

The world’s most famous living physicist, Prof Hawking has made several path-breaking contributions to theoretical physics. His visit to Waterloo in June and July of 2010 will mainly focus on scientific research and private collaborations with other leading physicists at the institute. Prof Hawking will also deliver a special lecture to be broadcast on TVO across Canada.

“We hope Stephen’s visit to Perimeter will be just the first of many. His ideas have had a huge impact on our basic understanding of the universe,” said Dr Turok. “He is an exceptional communicator, whether to other scientists or to the wider public. We are delighted he has agreed to deliver a televised lecture, to be shown across Canada. And we are looking forward to his impressions of the ‘Stephen Hawking Centre at Perimeter Institute’ now under construction.”

This past October, when the expansion to the facility was named in his honour, Professor Hawking said, “Our field of theoretical physics has been the most successful and cost-effective in all of science. Where would we be today without Newton, Maxwell, and Einstein? Many great challenges lie ahead. Where this new understanding will lead, is impossible to say for sure. What we can say with confidence, is that expanding the Perimeter of our knowledge will be the key to our future.”

More information on Prof Hawking’s visit and the televised lecture are available at www.perimeterinstitute.ca.