Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
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.[2] The institute's founding and major benefactor is Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Mike Lazaridis.[3]
Established
The original building, designed by Saucier + Perrotte,[4] opened in 2004[5] and was awarded a Governor General's Medal for Architecture in 2006.[6] The Stephen Hawking Centre, designed by Teeple Architects, was opened in 2011[7] and was LEED Silver certified in 2015.[8]
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.[9]
Design[edit]
The Institute was designed by Montréal-based architectural firm Saucier + Perrotte.[20] A concrete stairwell in the building's atrium was designed by Blackwell Engineers.[20] The Institute's front aluminum wall is black with small windows to represent a blackboard.[10]: 117 There are wooden fireplaces and blackboards throughout the building.[10]: 117 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".[20] Rochon described the building as modernism, and cited Tadao Ando as an influence.[20]
Perimeter's research encompasses nine fields:[21]
Programs[edit]
Perimeter Institute Recorded Seminar Archive (PIRSA)[edit]
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),[22] 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).
SciTalks[edit]
After more than 13,000 talks uploaded to PIRSA, Perimeter Institute created in 2020 a new public video archive called SciTalks[23] with the support of the Simons Foundations. It is a meta-repository search tool of scientific talks beyond what is produced at PI and aims to "revolutionize the world of scholarly communication in the way that the arXiv has done for print scientific papers".[24] Apart from PIRSA's existing content, SciTalks indexes videos from other institutions, such as CERN, Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, ICTP and ICTP-SAIFR.[25] As a meta-repository, SciTalks only stores metadata and links related to the videos, which are stored in other databases.
Training[edit]
Joint masters-level program[edit]
In partnership with the University of Waterloo, PI conducts Perimeter Scholars International (PSI),[37] a master's level course in theoretical physics.[38] The 10-month course was inaugurated in August 2009, and admits around 30 scholars per year. Students admitted (on average 3% of all applicants) receive full scholarships and living expenses. The master's degree itself is issued by the University of Waterloo.[39][40][41]
Doctoral studies[edit]
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics also hosts PhD students wishing to pursue full-time graduate studies under the supervision of a PI faculty member. PhD students receive their doctoral degrees from a university partner, such as the University of Waterloo.
Courses[edit]
Perimeter Institute offers a number of planned courses each year, including cross-listed programs with universities and mini-courses given by PI faculty, associate faculty and visiting researchers. The courses are made available to all students enrolled in surrounding universities. The popular courses are attended by students from University of Waterloo, University of Western Ontario, McMaster University, University of Guelph, University of Toronto, York University, and other centres.