By IANS,
Toronto : Britain’s world famous physicist Stephen Hawking, who was rumoured to join a theoretical physics institute at Waterloo near Toronto, will not be shifting to Canada.
Cambridge university, where Hawking is a professor in the department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics, has denied a report in the Daily Telegraph Tuesday that he was considering moving to the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics at Waterloo.
A Cambridge University spokeswoman was quoted by the Star newspaper of Toronto as saying that the great theoretical physicist – author of a “A Brief History of Time” – had no plans to move to Canada.
Peter Haynes, head of the department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics, was also quoted as saying that “Stephen Hawking has no plans to leave the University of Cambridge.”
Haynes added, “Stephen has made an enormously important contribution to the university over the last 40 years, both as a scientific leader in the department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics and, more generally, as an inspirational communicator of science and mathematics to the wider public.”
The British daily had reported that Hawking was made the offer by his colleague and Cambridge University professor Neil Turok who is moving to Canada to take over as the new executive director of the Perimeter Institute in October. Turok, who heads the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, is reportedly leaving Cambridge for failing to get $40 million to upgrade it into an institute named after Hawking.
But the Perimeter Institute, a private-public partnership, is flush with research funds to the tune of $600 million.
Known for its international outreach programme, the institute was founded by BlackBerry founder and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis in 1999 with an initial contribution of $100 million.
A paraplegic, 66-year-old Hawking will, however, visit the Canadian institute in October.