Friday September 21st, 2012 was a momentous day for not only the University of Waterloo but also the region of Waterloo with the opening of the long awaited Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre (QNC). The 160 million dollar building, that will be used to create a vast array of powerful technologies, was opened with great international attention. The impressive ceremony even contained speeches from world renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, and co-founder of Research in Motion (RIM), Mike Lazaridis.
The opening began with an introduction by George Dixon, Vice President of University Research, who started by saying “We stand on the threshold of discovery,” and eventually lead the ceremony into a video of the QNC. The video highlighted the impact that this building will have on field research and how with the opening of the QNC. “The future of nanotechnology is in the centre of Waterloo,” said Pearl Sullivan, Dean of Engineering at the University of Waterloo. The video was followed by the moment that many people were waiting for, a speech by Stephen Hawking. He described the building as having a “global scientific significance” and how it will help assist in advancing our understanding of nanotechnology and “illuminate the deep mysteries of science.” Up next were a set of members from the Canadian Parliament, who stressed the importance of education and how these resources will help grow both Waterloo and Canada to new scientific heights. Furthermore, they emphasized the fact the major scientific projects, such as the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre, have helped to not only reduce the “Brain Drain” effect that Canada has experienced over past few years, but reverse the trend entirely.
The Members of Parliament were followed by significant figures from the University of Waterloo such as Feridun Hamdullahpur, President of University of Waterloo, Raymond Laflamme, Director of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), and Arthur Carty, Director of Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN). These members highlighted the structural, personal and global significance of the building. This one-of-a-kind building has a total area of 285,000 square feet and meets the strictest scientific standards for laboratory environment control. Special features, like floating, one metre thick, carbon-fibre reinforced waffle slabbed concrete, were used to minimize vibration and electromagnetic radiation within the 10,000 square foot cleanroom and high sensitivity metrology labs to unbelievable levels. Furthermore, it is easy to argue that the structure and design of the building is elegant, but the true beauty of the QNC is much more than that. The QNC is considered to be “3-fold” in many ways. First, the building itself is three buildings put into one. It is comprised of, one, the Institute for Quantum Computing facility, two, the Nanotechnology Engineering undergraduate and research laboratories and finally, the third region is the nanofabrication cleanroom and high sensitivity metrology labs. In addition to that, from a human interaction point of view, the QNC primarily provides researchers with the tools necessary to work on the nano-scale. Secondly, it promotes collaboration by allowing people from many different fields to come together and work collectively, and at last, the building itself is inspiring. The almost decade long project has managed to produce “one of the greatest architectural and scientific marvels of the world” said Feridun Hamdullahpur, the President of University of Waterloo. Globally, the building has brought the University of Waterloo a great deal of attention. It has caused rapid growth in both IQC and WIN, bringing the University of Waterloo closer to leading the quantum and nanotechnology fields.
Then it came time for Mike Lazaridis, donor of 100 million dollars to the QNC, to make his speech. The slightly emotional co-founder of RIM described the opening of the QNC as a milestone in a plan that will transform human life. He went on further to emphasize that though this building is a very significant presence and will contain all the resources necessary to make many discoveries, the QNC is nothing without its people. One importance of the building design was to bring together the brightest people from around the world under one roof and use this unity to achieve what was once thought to be unachievable. Mike Lazaridis then boldly stated that the QNC will be known as the “Bell Laboratories of the 21st century” and similar to how the original Bell Labs transformed San Jose into Silicon Valley, the QNC will transform Waterloo into the new technological centre known as the “Quantum Valley.”
The speeches were wrapped up, once again, by George Dixon, who followed up on absolutely outstanding speeches from three current University of Waterloo students. At last, the ceremony was concluded with the honorary cutting of the University of Waterloo ribbon, officially opening the highly anticipated Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre. Now only time will tell about what magnificent discoveries are lurking just around the corner.
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