Thursday, April 24, 2008
In a special ceremony honouring Ontario's top, innovative scientists, Dr. Raymond Laflamme has received the prestigious Premier's Discovery Award for his contributions to natural sciences and engineering.
Dr. Raymond Laflamme is the 2008 recipient of the Premier's Discovery Award for Natural Science and Engineering.The Premier's Discovery Awards celebrates the research excellence of Ontario's finest accomplished researchers. By showcasing individual achievements, it aims to enhance Ontario's attractiveness as a global research centre.
The $500,000 Natural Sciences and Engineering award celebrates achievements in the study of physical sciences and/or engineering processes. Dr. Laflamme is internationally recognized as one of the world's leading quantum information scientists. His study of quantum computers, devices that store and process information at the level of individual atoms, has revolutionized the field.
Dr. Laflamme studied at Cambridge University under the direction of renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. He returned to Canada in 2001 to establish the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Laflamme has developed methods to counteract the effects of errors in quantum computing, resulting in his development of the world's largest functioning quantum computer. These types of advances in quantum computing will significantly increase computational speeds and allow for the processing of large amounts of data.
Dr. Laflamme's contribution has lead Ontario to world leadership in an area that holds extraordinary promise for the future.