"Perimeter has the uncommon advantage of bringing together nearly all branches of physics together under one roof. This idea was distinct and extraordinary 25 years ago when our founder, Mike Lazaridis, put his plans for PI together. This idea, 25 years on, is still exceptional, and gives us all great hope for our future."
Marcela Carena, Executive Director
Perimeter Institute, founded in October 2000 by tech visionary Mike Lazaridis, is thrilled to be celebrating its 25th anniversary. Events to commemorate this remarkable milestone began in December 2024 and will continue into early 2026. Perimeter is opening its doors for a number of public events and lectures, welcoming local community members as well as past and present members of the PI community for educational and networking opportunities. The centrepiece of Perimeter’s celebrations will be a one-of-a-kind, week-long festival from September 20 to 26, 2025. The event is timed alongside Doors Open Canada and Waterloo’s Lumen Festival, culminating in a gala event on September 25 to honour the Institute’s founders and unique history. Perimeter’s celebrations extend beyond Waterloo, connecting with the theoretical physics community across Canada, with a stop already completed in Halifax, and more to come in Montréal, Calgary, and Vancouver. Internationally, the Institute will also take part in two events in Hannover, Germany, and London, UK, in collaboration with partner institutions. Through these events, Perimeter will join with its networks of researchers, universities, and partners to celebrate Canada’s leadership in scientific innovation. Read more about this year’s activities below. Future events will be detailed on PI’s website, social media channels, and in the 2025/26 Annual Report.
Anniversary Highlights
Our Story
Perimeter Institute brings together brilliant minds in a collaborative environment to spark groundbreaking discoveries in theoretical physics. From its humble beginnings to becoming a world-renowned research hub, Perimeter is on a journey driven by curiosity, innovation, and a passion for unlocking the universe’s deepest mysteries. Perimeter’s work enables cutting-edge research, training for the next generation of scientific leaders, and award-winning outreach and public engagement that shares the power of physics. As Perimeter celebrates its 25th anniversary, PI invites others to explore and be a part of its story as it continues to push the boundaries of knowledge and inspire the next generation of thinkers.
“Perimeter Institute has exceeded all of our expectations. Its impact to Canada’s reputation globally has been significant and has also been a source of great pride to Canadians.”
— Mike Lazaridis, Founding Chair Emeritus of Perimeter Institute
Perimeter Institute: A quarter-century retrospective
An inspirational seed, born in the mind of Canadian engineering student Mike Lazaridis, formed the idea for a remarkable theoretical physics institute that would change the face of physics. Years later, in 1999, after Lazaridis founded Research In Motion (later called BlackBerry) and had the means, he set out to make this institute a reality. Perimeter Institute officially launched on October 23, 2000, and the first researchers asked to join this brand-new Canadian theoretical physics institute in a city called Waterloo reacted to the prospect with a certain amount of natural skepticism. For theoretical physicists at institutes like Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, or MIT, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics was not yet on the map. Enticing researchers to a then-unknown institute wasn’t an easy task, but a bold few took the chance, as told in “A quarter-century retrospective,” a multi-part series retelling Perimeter’s history.
“It reminded me of the spirit of great institutes in the history of science, where people would get together because they just wanted to know. Just because they were curious.”
—Carlo Rovelli, Distinguished Visiting Research Chair, on the early days of Perimeter Institute
Perimeter Institute kicks off its 25th anniversary with a year-long celebration of physics, featuring public events, lectures, and a week-long festival
Perimeter kicks off 25th anniversary year
Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, Nolan Quinn
Perimeter’s 25th anniversary celebrations kicked off at an event in December 2024 with 200 Perimeter residents and invited guests, including the Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities, Nolan Quinn. Perimeter’s newly-appointed Executive Director, Marcela Carena, greeted the gathered community and unveiled year-long celebration plans, which would begin with a special exhibition, Galileo and His Ingenious Discoveries, early in 2025. The exhibit would mark the start of Perimeter’s renewed commitment to opening its doors to the Canadian public and to strengthen connections with the growing Canadian research community through scientific conferences and partnerships.
Anniversary plans would also include a week-long celebration in September 2025, timed alongside Doors Open Waterloo Region and Waterloo’s Lumen Festival, and culminating in a black-tie gala event on September 25. The gala would be an evening to remember, complete with a performance from the Perimeter Orchestra and refreshments from the Institute’s Black Hole Bistro. The event paid tribute to Perimeter’s growth, from its humble beginnings with only nine scientists to currently having over 50 resident faculty and 70 postdoctoral fellows working on cutting-edge theoretical physics research.
25 Years of Quantum Information at Perimeter
Tapping into the quantum nature of particles can give us deeper computational power than anything an ordinary computer (even a supercomputer) can manage operating on just electronic signals. When Perimeter Institute was formed 25 years ago, two of the Institute’s founders, Raymond Laflamme and Michele Mosca, were prime movers in the earliest iterations of quantum computing and quantum error-correcting codes. Today, Perimeter researchers like Research Associate Faculty Christine Muschik, jointly appointed with IQC, and Research Faculty Alex May continue to explore how information can be represented in the states of quantum systems, a field that ultimately touches on the foundational building blocks of nature.
Celebrating 25 Years of Mathematical Physics
Perimeter has become world-renowned for training students in the growing field of mathematical physics, where researchers explore the complex mathematics needed to solve some of the hardest problems in theoretical physics. With incredible support from the Krembil Foundation, Research Faculty members Davide Gaiotto and Kevin Costello have been working on some of these tough problems, while also supervising postdoctoral researchers and training dozens of graduate students. With their leadership, Perimeter is building a new generation of talented young people who will work at institutions in Canada and around the world to solve some of nature’s deepest mysteries
Perimeter's ‘Galileo and his Ingenious Discoveries’ exhibit
In February 2025, Perimeter Institute hosted Galileo and His Ingenious Discoveries, a unique exhibition exploring groundbreaking science from Galileo’s era and his visionary writings on topics like geolocation and the Moon. The project was a collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in Canada and the Galileo Museum in Florence and marked the first time the exhibit was displayed outside of Europe. We’ve rounded up the top five displays from the exhibit – from replicas of Galileo’s inventions to hands-on interactive stations for kids.
5 things to check out at the ‘Galileo and his Ingenious Discoveries’ exhibit
Galileo and His Ingenious Discoveries was made possible by an anonymous donation and by Cowan, Galileo Educational Outreach Champion.
Read more about Galileo’s ingenious discoveries
4 Objects Galileo Discovered with His Telescope that You Can See with Binoculars
One of Galileo’s major contributions to science was his unprecedented use of telescopes for astronomy. Today, we can see much of what Galileo saw for the first time with a good pair of binoculars, a tripod, and a clear sky. In honour of Perimeter hosting Galileo and His Ingenious Discoveries, read about four objects in the sky that Galileo was the first in human history to see and that you can see yourself on a clear night with binoculars.
How Galileo Put the Sun at the Centre of the Solar System
Discover how Galileo disproved geocentrism – the theory that placed Earth at the centre of the universe. With the help of a newly invented telescope, Galileo challenged geocentrism through three key observations: Jupiter’s moons, the phases of Venus, and sunspots.
Perimeter kicks off cross-Canada anniversary celebrations in Halifax
As part of Perimeter’s 25th anniversary celebrations, the Institute kicked off a cross-country tour in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Perimeter’s outreach team connected with local students and teachers to introduce specialized classroom activities designed to inspire and encourage a love of science and physics. Through Perimeter’s GoPhysics! program, local students took a deep dive into two important topics: gravity and black holes, and exoplanets and the universe.
Perimeter researchers also participated in the visit; Perimeter Postdoctoral Researcher Lukas Mueller delivered a research seminar at the Dalhousie University mathematics department, hosted by Perimeter Research Associate Faculty member Theo Johnson-Freyd (who is cross-appointed with Dalhousie University). Mueller also delivered a presentation about graduate programs at Perimeter and careers in physics, organized by the Undergraduate Physics Society on campus.
Perimeter Team at the 25th anniversary event with Volta in Halifax, NS
Perimeter's Emily Petroff moderating a productive discussion panel “AI, Physics, and Tech Innovation”
The future of science: Perimeter and Volta's AI & tech panel in Halifax
Perimeter Institute’s 25th anniversary celebrations in Halifax continued with an event hosted in collaboration with Volta, Atlantic Canada’s start-up hub. The highlight of the night was a panel discussion on “AI, Physics, and Tech Innovation” with Volta CEO Matt Cooper, Perimeter Postdoctoral Researcher Anindita Maiti, and Perimeter Outreach Scientist Damian Pope, moderated by Perimeter’s Director of External Relations, Emily Petroff. Panellists from both Perimeter and Volta expressed optimism for the future of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, which are already having an impact within the tech sector and start-ups. The discussion struck at the intersection of research and innovation that has been the mainstay of Perimeter’s mission since its founding in 2000, and one that Canadian accelerators like Volta work to move forward.