Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at 7 pmWaterloo Collegiate Institute, 300 Hazel Street, Waterloo

Newswise — Do ideas about information and reality inspire fruitful new approaches to the hardest problems of modern physics? What can we learn about the paradoxes of quantum mechanics, the beginning of the universe and our understanding of black holes by thinking about the very essence of information? The answers to these questions are surprising and enlightening, but also controversial. The topic of information within physics has involved some of the 20th century's greatest scientists in long-running intellectual battles that continue to the present day. In this special debate, hosted by the CBC's Bob McDonald of 'Quirks and Quarks', you will enjoy a lively discussion between four prominent physicists who have thought long and hard about these questions.

Panelists:

Professor Leonard Susskind, Stanford University and PI Associate Member

Professor Seth Lloyd, MIT and author of Programming the Universe

Dr. Chris Fuchs, PI Long Term Visitor

Professor Tony Leggett, University of Illinois, Nobel laureate, Member of PI Scientific Advisory Committee, Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Distinguished Research Chair at the University of Waterloo and research professor with the Institute for Quantum Computing and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo

Panel Host: Bob McDonald, Host of CBC's "Quirks and Quarks"

For full bios on the panelists, please visit http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/Outreach/Public_Lectures/Public_Lectures/

ABOUT PERIMETER INSTITUTE:

Perimeter Institute is an independent, non-profit research centre where international scientists are clustering to push the limits of our understanding of physical laws by contemplating and calculating new ideas about the very essence of space, time, matter and information. The Institute, located in Waterloo, also provides a wide array of educational outreach activities for students, teachers and the general public across Canada and beyond in order to share the joys of creative inquiry, research, discovery and innovation. For more information, please visit http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca.