1999 - The Beginning

Perimeter Institute is a basic research centre dedicated to exploring the world around us at its most fundamental level. It began in the summer of 1999 when Mike Lazaridis, founder of Research in Motion and the innovator who was instrumental in launching the smart phone revolution, found himself in a position to help foster research and innovation in Canada. In August 1999, the Founding Director, Howard Burton, was hired and a Board of Directors was formed to take on the task of establishing a world-class institute devoted to theoretical physics.

The founders set out to create an organization that would foster a vigorous and truly innovative scientific community. A small study group travelled to many scientific institutes, laboratories and academic departments, in order to learn about relevant issues, from research breadth, to interaction with the surrounding academic community, to organizational structure, and even architecture. After several months of travel to locales such as the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), the Institute for Theoretical Physics (Santa Barbara), the Santa Fe Institute, CERN (Geneva), the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (Trieste) and others, the following conclusions were made about how Perimeter Institute should be structured:

1. The Institute should be independent
2. The Institute should focus on foundational, non-directed research
3. The Institute should be resident-based
4. The Institute should be a flat hierarchy of a true community of scholars
5. The Institute should develop a strong public presence

The independence of the Institute was regarded as essential in order to exercise maximum flexibility with regards to hiring faculty, accommodating visitors, structuring public outreach activities and other matters. However there was also universal recognition that it was essential for the future Institute’s culture and atmosphere to develop some structured way to substantially involve students and younger researchers in the mainstream of the Institute’s activities. Finally, the founders also felt that a central part of the Institute's mission should be to strengthen physics research throughout Canada, and were mindful of placing it in a cooperative, rather than a competitive, relationship with the surrounding academic community.

With these concerns in mind, it was concluded that the Institute would begin by offering positions for senior faculty. To integrate PI researchers with the surrounding academic community, a structure enabling cross-appointments at local universities was devised. The resolve to interact with other organizations combined with the Institute’s own aggressive recruitment efforts would, in the fullness of time, generate a cluster of top international talent and thereby strengthen the entire region in fundamental physics research. Moreover, by working in tandem with other organizations, the Institute would be able to accommodate graduate students from Canadian universities for various periods of time within its own walls, thereby ensuring a lively and dynamic research environment.

An essential aspect of the Institute's mandate to create theories that successfully describe our physical universe is maintaining a balance between developing new mathematical tools and models and research on the connection of such theoretical models to experimentally observable phenomena. Recognizing that cross-fertilization of ideas has often led to the greatest advances, it was decided that the Institute would deliberately foster a diversity of approaches within a culture of excellence. This would encourage deep, innovative thinkers to boldly push boundaries of our current understanding of physical laws, and increase the likelihood of achieving major advances. To this end, the Institute would also benefit from a combination of advice generated by a Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), on-site researchers and external scientific experts to ensure that the scientific mission statement was continually met.

Although Perimeter planned to be resident-based rather than program-driven, it was recognized that workshops, conferences, summer schools and the like would represent an excellent opportunity to interact with the international academic community and expose resident researchers to interesting developments in neighbouring fields. As a result, the Institute would set out to run a wide range of scientific programs year round. A new facility, already being contemplated, would ultimately feature a lecture theatre, seminar rooms and collaboration areas to specifically foster the activities.

The structure of the Institute also entailed considerable deliberation. In order to develop a culture of a true community of scholars, there was strong motivation to ensure that the Institute function with the flattest possible hierarchy.  Recognizing that many of the seminal discoveries in theoretical physics have historically come from young researchers, Perimeter set out to have a youth-oriented focus and to give its many postdoctoral researchers as much research freedom and opportunity as possible. Its senior faculty, meanwhile, would be a blend of younger and more experienced scientists, providing a combination of proven research excellence, leadership and mentoring experience together with highly productive scientific activity. The Scientific Advisory Committee – to be comprised of internationally renowned scientists– would be an integral oversight body, offering guidance, and ensuring objectivity and a high standard of scientific excellence in all research. 

In establishing Perimeter Institute, the founders were not only motivated to create a research centre of the highest international standing, they were simultaneously determined to strongly affect the prevailing culture by celebrating the importance and impact of scientific inquiry. As a result, a comprehensive program of educational outreach activities would be established with a reach that would ultimately extend across Canada and serve as a model to the world. Specific programs would be designed to engage students, teachers and members of the general public with targeted content by way of in-class lessons, customized workshops, on-site summer schools, on-going lecture series, special festivals and more.

Finally, cultural events would also be a part of the life of the Institute, complementing the twin mandates of top quality research and educational outreach. Perimeter Institute would aim to be an attractive and dynamic facility in the broadest possible sense – a stimulating setting for leading-edge scientists to think as well as an accessible and engaging environment for the community at large.