'The Physics of Impossible Things' at Perimeter Institute -- public lecture Dec. 3

'The Physics of Impossible Things”'

Waterloo, ON: Some things can happen in our Universe, and others cannot. The laws of physics establish the boundary between possibility and impossibility. Scientists naturally spend most of their time thinking about the possible. In this presentation, however, Prof. Ben Schumacher of Kenyon College will take you on a brief reconnaissance across frontiers in physics to study impossible things and discover the surprising connections between them. You will encounter standard science-fiction ideas and devices like time machines and faster-than-light spaceships - as well as other, less-familiar prodigies including quantum cloners and bounded electromagnetic miracles. A safe return to the real world is unconditionally guaranteed.

Professor Schumacher is one of the founders of quantum information theory. He popularized the term "qubit" (quantum bit of information), invented quantum data compression (also known as Schumacher compression), and established several fundamental results about the information capacity of quantum systems.

His entertaining and educational Perimeter Institute Public Lecture will be held on Wednesday, December 3rd at 7:00 pm in Waterloo, Ontario. Additional details can be found at www.perimeterinstitute.ca, including links to view past presentations and subscription information for advance notice of future events.

To inquire about seats for journalists or to coordinate an interview, contact Angela Robinson at , 519.569.7600 x5051.

ABOUT PERIMETER INSTITUTE:

Canada's Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics is an independent, non-profit, scientific research and educational outreach organization where international scientists cluster to push the limits of our understanding of physical laws and develop new ideas about the very essence of space, time, matter and information. The award-winning research centre provides a multi-disciplinary environment to foster research in areas of Cosmology, Particle Physics, Quantum Foundations, Quantum Gravity, Quantum Information, Superstring Theory, and related areas. The Institute, located in Waterloo, Ontario, also provides a wide array of educational outreach activities for students, teachers and members of the general public in order to share the joy of scientific research, discovery and innovation. In partnership with the Governments of Ontario and Canada, Perimeter Institute continues to be a successful example of private and public collaboration in science research and education.