Public Lectures

In her live Perimeter Public Lecture webcast on November 4, 2020, physicist Catherine Beauchemin used contemporary examples from COVID-19 and influenza to explain eroding public trust in health research – and why a dose of physics may be just the prescription we need. Beauchemin is a Professor of Physics at Ryerson University and a Deputy Program Director in the RIKEN Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences Program in Japan.

What do data science and the foundations of quantum theory have to do with one another?

A great deal, it turns out. The particular branch of data science known as causal inference focuses on a problem which is central to disciplines ranging from epidemiology to economics: that of disentangling correlation and causation in statistical data.

Meanwhile, in a slightly different guise, this same problem has been pondered by quantum physicists as part of a continuing effort to make sense of various puzzling quantum phenomena. On top of that, the most celebrated result concerning quantum theory’s meaning for the nature of reality – Bell’s theorem – can be seen in retrospect to be built on the solution to a particularly challenging problem in causal inference.

Recent efforts to elaborate upon these connections have led to an exciting flow of techniques and insights across the disciplinary divide.

Perimeter researchers Robert Spekkens and Elie Wolfe have done pioneering work studying relations of cause and effect through a quantum foundational lens, and can be counted among a small number of physicists worldwide with expertise in this field.

In their joint webcast from Perimeter on October 7, Spekkens and Wolfe will explore what is happening at the intersection of these two fields and how thinking like a quantum physicist leads to new ways of sussing out cause and effect from correlation patterns in statistical data.

Watch live online at insidetheperimeter.ca.

In a special live webcast with Perimeter Institute on May 6, 2020, theoretical cosmologist and science communicator Katie Mack — known to her many Twitter followers as @AstroKatie — answered questions about her favourite subject: the end of the universe. Mack is currently a Simons Emmy Noether Fellow at Perimeter and an Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University.

You’ve likely heard of quantum computing. Maybe you’re even familiar with the basic principles of how this emerging form of technology harnesses counter-intuitive properties of the subatomic realm to perform tasks that would overwhelm even today’s most powerful “classical” computers. But do you know what that will mean for the ways you work, communicate, play, and live?

Does anyone truly know? Well, no, because some very big challenges remain before quantum computers are commonplace. But for expert perspectives on what the future may hold and how to prepare for the quantum future, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better source than Shohini Ghose.

In her March 4 public lecture at Perimeter Institute, Ghose will guide the audience through the latest advances in the quantum world and share her own journey in quantum science. Ghose, a professor of physics and computer science at Wilfrid Laurier University, studies how the laws of quantum physics can be exploited to transform computing and communications, and to achieve feats such as teleportation.

Ghose is a leading expert, and sought-after speaker, in quantum information science, as well as how to make the global science community more vibrant and inclusive. She is the founding director of the Laurier Centre for Women in Science and President of the Canadian Association of Physicists, and she served as Perimeter Institute’s first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Specialist.

Among her many honours, Ghose is a TED Senior Fellow and member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists. In 2019, she was among 25 leading women scientists from around the world featured in a UNESCO exhibit in Paris.

Science fiction and science both inspire wonder and awe, albeit in very different ways.

At its best, science fiction asks profound questions about the human condition. In contrast, science asks – and often answers – even more profound questions about the very nature of matter, space, and time.

Both science fiction and science fact explore the concept of journeying to other stars and finding life on other worlds. When it comes to interstellar travel, the truth may soon become stranger (and more amazing) than fiction.

In his February 5 public lecture webcast at Perimeter Institute, astronomer Bryan Gaensler will provide an overview of the latest thinking on interstellar travel and on the search for alien life – including why he believes the frontiers of current research may be more exciting and visionary than any fictional stories we can imagine.

Gaensler is the Director of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, where he holds a Canada Research Chair. He has authored 400 scientific papers on cosmic magnetism, neutron stars, supernova explosions, and interstellar gas, and his popular science book, Extreme Cosmos, has been translated into six languages.

Since the discovery of the first exoplanets in the early 1990s, we have detected more than 4,000 worlds beyond our solar system. Many of these are similar in size to our Earth, leading to an obvious question: could any be habitable?

For now, we typically only know the size and orbit of these planets, but nothing about their surface conditions. Although we cannot know for sure if these worlds could support life, we can use models to speculate on what we might find there.

In her Nov. 6 talk at Perimeter Institute, astrophysicist and author Elizabeth Tasker will take audiences for a speculative stroll through a few of the alien worlds we’ve discovered in the galaxy, and ponder whether someone else may already call them home.

Elizabeth Tasker is an astrophysicist at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Her research explores the formation of stars and planets using computer simulations. She is particularly interested in how diverse planets might be and what different conditions might exist beyond our Solar System. Elizabeth is also a keen science communicator and writer for the NASA NExSS “Many Worlds” online column. Her popular science book, The Planet Factory, was published in Canada last April.

Albert Einstein predicted a century ago the existence of gravitational waves – ripples in the fabric of spacetime moving at the speed of light. It was believed that these ripples were so faint that no experiment would ever be precise enough to detect them. But in September 2015, LIGO did exactly that. The teams working with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors in Louisiana and Washington measured a loud gravitational wave signal as it traveled through the Earth after a billion-year journey from the violent merger of two black holes.

Since that first detection, scientists have measured many more gravitational waves, including a signal produced by colliding neutron stars captured by LIGO and the Virgo detector in Europe in 2017. That cataclysm also generated electromagnetic waves – light – detected by numerous other telescopes, and helped scientists understand how gold is created in deep space.

In a special public lecture webcast at Perimeter Institute on October 23, 2019, Gabriela González will provide a first-hand account of LIGO’s century-in-the-making breakthrough, and explain observations made as recently as this year. González, a professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University and former spokesperson of the LIGO collaboration, will take the audience on a journey to some of the universe’s most violent places, and explain how such distant events can lead to a very bright future here on Earth.

Advances in biotech, cyber-technology, robotics, and space exploration could, if applied wisely, allow a bright future – even for 10 billion people – by the end of this century.

But there are dystopian risks we ignore at our peril.

These risks are of two kinds: those stemming from our ever-greater collective “footprint” on the Earth, and those enabled by technologies so powerful that even small groups can, whether by error or design, cause global catastrophe.

Martin Rees, the UK Astronomer Royal, will explore this unprecedented moment in human history during his Perimeter Institute public lecture on October 2, 2019. A former president of the Royal Society and master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Rees is a cosmologist whose work also explores the interfaces between science, ethics, and politics.

In his October 2 talk – which kicks off the 2019/20 season of the Perimeter Institute Public Lecture Series – Rees will discuss the outlook for humans (or their robotic envoys) venturing to other planets. Humans, Rees argues, will be ill-adapted to new habitats beyond Earth, and will use genetic and cyborg technology to transform into a “post-human” species.

Rees’ talk at Perimeter will cover themes from his 2018 book, On the Future: Prospects for Humanity. Rees is an acclaimed thinker, author, and speaker who belongs to numerous scientific academies around the world. His past books include Before the Beginning, Our Final Century?, Just Six Numbers, Our Cosmic Habitat, and Gravity’s Fatal Attraction.

To make progress on serious problems in biology and medicine takes a combination of skills, tools, and approaches, often requiring collaboration across seemingly disparate fields. The trick to making breakthroughs often lies in learning to communicate across disciplines to identify existing technologies – and, crucially, the new tools that need to be invented.
 

Anne M. Andrews is a neuroscientist whose work eavesdrops on chemical signaling in the brain. Paul S. Weiss is a nanoscientist who studies materials at the smallest scales. Their scientific collaboration began by advancing nanotechnology to pursue grand challenges in neuroscience, bridging their two fields. This expansion of each of their efforts led to ongoing advances in biology and medicine.
 

In a special joint public lecture, Andrews and Weiss will describe their motivation and explain how they’re training new generations of students and fellow researchers to look beyond traditional academic boundaries to target significant problems and to develop the necessary communication skills to address them.

For thousands of years, astronomy was restricted to what we could see with our eyes. But visible light makes up only a tiny fraction of a spectrum emitted by celestial objects.

We now know that light is not the universe’s sole means to reveal the mysteries of the heavens. Until recently, we simply lacked the windows through which to view these aspects of our universe.

Over the last few decades, astronomers have revolutionized our windows on the universe with telescopes of unprecedented sensitivity to light beyond what we can see with our eyes.

Observatories now allow us to see ghostly particles called neutrinos, and ripples in the fabric of space itself - called gravitational waves.

In his Perimeter Public Lecture on April 3, 2019, Chad Hanna will describe how these new windows have changed our view of the cosmos and explore what new wonders may be unveiled in the decades to come.

Hanna is an associate professor at Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on studying the universe with gravitational waves using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

Hanna and his research group work to enable multi-messenger astronomy through gravitational wave observations of merging neutron stars and black holes. Prior to joining Penn State, he was a senior postdoctoral researcher at Perimeter Institute.

The 21st century may come to be known as the Age of Photonics, as we exploit our ability to make and manipulate light as an amazing carrier of energy and information. From quantum computing and entanglement to eye surgery and solar energy, humans are already reaping the benefits of our own endeavours to understand and control light.

In her public lecture webcast at Perimeter on March 6, Cather Simpson from the University of Auckland will highlight her research in exploring how recent advances in the physics of light are transforming our ability to feed the planet safely and sustainably.

Simpson moved from Case Western Reserve University in the USA to the University of Auckland’s Physics and Chemistry Departments in 2007. There, she started the Photon Factory, a laser centre whose mission is to exploit exotic, ultrashort pulsed lasers to enable cross-disciplinary research from the very fundamental to the applied and entrepreneurial.

Simpson’s research explores the interaction of light with matter, particularly how materials can convert light into more useful forms of energy. A relatively recent area of focus is in agriculture, where her work has led to two international award-winning spinout companies. Her many recent accolades include a National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award, the 2016 Silicon Valley Forum 1st-place AgTech medal, and election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi.