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Space Science

Steven Hawking Considering Move To Canada 378

thepacketmaster learned of "...the possibility of Steven Hawking moving to Waterloo in Canada: 'A report out of Britain suggests Stephen Hawking is considering an invitation to come work at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics....But he's also being encouraged to move to Ontario by his University of Cambridge colleague Neil Turok, the mathematical physicist who will take over as Perimeter's executive director on Oct. 1. Perimeter confirmed last night that it has made a standing offer to Hawking...Turok is leaving Cambridge after failing to persuade university authorities, research councils and sponsors to spend $40 million...By comparison, Waterloo's Perimeter Institute has about $600 million in funding...The addition of Hawking to Perimeter's staff of top physicists would be a major coup for the research institute, founded in 1999 by Mike Lazaridis, founder and co-CEO of Research In Motion, which makes the BlackBerry.'"
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Steven Hawking Considering Move To Canada

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  • Didn't... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by clonan ( 64380 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @10:44AM (#24213859)

    all the top phycisits start leaving Germany when things started going downhill?

    • by clonan ( 64380 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @10:47AM (#24213933)

      And the physicists left too!

  • Just think of the tax savings!
  • by Urger ( 817972 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @10:45AM (#24213867) Homepage
    He's moving there to be closer to the headquarters of the Vice Presidential Action Rangers.
    • by Culture20 ( 968837 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @10:52AM (#24214045)
      Do you really think he's a member of the current Vice Presidential Action Rangers? Hmm... nevermind, it could be that he has promises from all parties to be rehired after the election. Hopefully Gary faked his own death; the Rangers need his chaotic determination to complement Hawking's rigid mathematics.
    • by sconeu ( 64226 )

      I'm an 11th level vice president!

  • I wonder (Score:4, Funny)

    by xpuppykickerx ( 1290760 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @10:46AM (#24213899)
    how long it will take his little chair to get him there. Does that thing have snow treads?
  • Fringe Benefits (Score:4, Informative)

    by sssmashy ( 612587 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @10:46AM (#24213915)
    Canada also has better wheelchair access.
  • Its our (Score:5, Funny)

    by BigJClark ( 1226554 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @10:47AM (#24213921)

    Its our national healthcare system.
  • by Rinisari ( 521266 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @10:49AM (#24213983) Homepage Journal

    Mr. Turok, mathematical physicist and dinosaur hunter, to you, pal.

  • The voice (Score:5, Funny)

    by Megaweapon ( 25185 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @10:50AM (#24214005) Homepage

    Can we get the computerized voice with a Canadian accent, eh?

  • by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @10:52AM (#24214033)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • British? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @10:54AM (#24214073)
    I never realized Stephen Hawking was British. He doesn't sound it....
  • by assemblerex ( 1275164 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @10:58AM (#24214157)
    They hatin Patrolling they tryin to catch me theorizing dirty Tryin to catch me theorizing dirty
  • Phew! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Harold Halloway ( 1047486 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @11:00AM (#24214183)

    No more traffic jams on Silver Street.

  • by cptnapalm ( 120276 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @11:01AM (#24214225)

    Stephen Hawking changed his mind about what he wanted to eat for lunch.

    "At first I thought I wanted fish," said Mr. Hawkings, "but then I decided I did not want fish. I eventually went with spaghetti."

    There is much debate in science-related blogs as well as in academia about the significance of this change.

  • by IllGetYouAToe ( 1303241 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @11:04AM (#24214287)
    Hawking will have his venerable voicebox replaced by one of Canadian manufacture, based on an amalgamation of Geddy Lee and Alex Trebek's voice, which automatically interjects "eh" every 8th word.
    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Tetsujin ( 103070 )

      Hawking will have his venerable voicebox replaced by one of Canadian manufacture, based on an amalgamation of Geddy Lee and Alex Trebek's voice, which automatically interjects "eh" every 8th word.

      Meh, everybody's raising this possibility.... While it is a very real possibility, I think you're all missing the bigger picture here.

      What do they make in Canada? Beer, Mounties, snow... oh, and the frikkin Canadarm [wikipedia.org]! The chair is bound to receive upgrades based on this technology - probably a quadrupedal locomotion system and two massive manipulators, all Canadarm-based...

  • by Trespass ( 225077 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @11:07AM (#24214343) Homepage

    That sounds like a front organization for Aperture Science.

  • Public Lectures (Score:5, Informative)

    by necro81 ( 917438 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @11:09AM (#24214371) Journal
    One of the coolest things about the Perimeter Institute is that they have a public lecture series. The lecturers are a mix of eminent scientists from inside and outside the Institute. The topics are mostly drawn from the edges of physics and cosmology. Some are more accessible to lay people than other.

    The Institute has most of them available for offline viewing and reading [perimeterinstitute.ca]. Maybe they could get Stephen Hawking one day.
  • by FrankDrebin ( 238464 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @11:09AM (#24214383) Homepage
    ... at least the 'A' key, eh?
  • by technienerd ( 1121385 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @11:19AM (#24214579)
    As a Computer Science major at the University of Waterloo, I'm proud to hear that the Waterloo region and it's research and higher education institutes are attracting top minds to the area. Arguably, the university is already the top undergrad tech school in Canada and competitive with the top in the U.S. as well, but currently only on the undergraduate level. However, huge amounts of funding have been recently pouring into UW's graduate programs, and associated research institutes. Some Waterloo folks like to label the university "MIT of the north" but unfortunately, I'd argue that's currently only true on the undergraduate level. Its co-op program makes Waterloo grads among the most employable new grads in the world. With this kind of exposure I'm sure Waterloo will reach its goal of being competitive with the top U.S. tech schools in all areas within the next 5 to 10 years. Maybe they'll start making movies with references to Waterloo as well.:P Then again, most movies are made/produced in the U.S...
    • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @11:22AM (#24214627)

      There's lots of movies with references to Waterloo, though they generally deal with this Napoleon guy, I guess he was a bigshot there.

      • There's lots of movies with references to Waterloo, though they generally deal with this Napoleon guy, I guess he was a bigshot there.

        Oh, yeah - like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure! I love waterslides!

  • "steVen"? (Score:5, Informative)

    by elecmahm ( 1194167 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @11:25AM (#24214685)
    Is anyone else irked by the apparent misspelling? Steven != Stephen
  • I guess that gig he has with the Cable Weather Satellite channel was just a temporary gig. I heard him on there the other day:

    Tomorrow's weather, partly cloudy with little temperature change.

    On an unrelated note... Anyone know how Canada got its name?

    They placed a bunch of letters in a hat and drew them out. The one doing the drawing picked out the first letter, "C, Eh". then "N, Eh" and finally "D, Eh." (if you didn't get it, say it out loud).

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      Actually, Canada got it's name when Jacques Cartier and company, well, mangled the St-Lawrence Iroquois word 'kanata,' which means 'town' or 'village.'

      There's a sweet little 'Canadian Heritage' edvert that illustrates this as Cartier and company coming over a hill and meeting said Iroquois for the first time. The local elder offers to bring them to his village, repeatedly using the word 'kanata.' Cartier turns to a religious scholar, and asks for a translation. The scholar, having never heard this langua

  • Hot damn! (Score:2, Interesting)

    I'm a Physics Undergrad student at the University of Waterloo, and I am definitely excited. This will add a lot of value to my degree, and reputation for the physics department in general.
  • need to speak French first then English to be legal over there? Or is that only in Quebec?

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by ProteusQ ( 665382 )

      Will he have to reprogram the English syntax algorithm to add an "eh?" at the end of every sentence?

  • by Hemogoblin ( 982564 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @03:59PM (#24219573)

    http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/07/16/hawking-perimeter.html [www.cbc.ca]

    The University of Cambridge has poured cold water on reports its most famous physicist might be coming to Canada to work, saying Wednesday Stephen Hawking "has no plans" to leave.

    A report in the Daily Telegraph in the U.K. said Hawking was contemplating joining his colleague Neil Turok at Waterloo, Ont.'s Perimeter Institute. The South African-born cosmologist Turok, 49, is leaving Cambridge to take over the role of executive director at the institute, which was founded in 2000 by Research in Motion co-founder Mike Lazaridis and is devoted to the study of theoretical physics.

    Cambridge's statement called the report "unfounded speculation."

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