Latest news with #StephenHawking
Calgary Herald
4 days ago
- Science
- Calgary Herald
Raymond Laflamme, Canadian pioneer in quantum computing, has died
Raymond Laflamme, a Canadian pioneer in the field of quantum information processing who once worked with Stephen Hawking, has died after a lengthy bout with cancer. Article content The University of Waterloo announced his death in a press release this week. He died June 19 on what would have been his 65th birthday. Article content Article content Born in Québec City, the third of five siblings, Laflamme studied physics as an undergraduate at the Université Laval before moving to England to continue his education there. Article content Article content At Cambridge University, he earned his PhD under the supervision of Stephen Hawking, at one point convincing the eminent scientist (over the course of six months' spirited discussion) that Hawking was wrong in his belief that time would run backwards during the contraction of the universe. Article content Article content Article content Article content After Cambridge, Laflamme worked for a number of years at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where his interests shifted from cosmology to quantum computing. Article content Article content In 2001, he returned to Canada and joined the department of physics and astronomy at the University of Waterloo and the university's newly created Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. There, he became founding director of the Institute for Quantum Computing, a position he held for 15 years. Article content 'Through his leadership, IQC became a world-class research hub, positioning Canada at the forefront of the quantum revolution,' the university said in its release. 'In his scientific research, Laflamme pioneered theoretical and experimental approaches to quantum information processing and quantum error correction.' Article content It added: 'Laflamme and colleagues developed an innovative approach to quantum information processing using linear optics, the results of which became one of the most referenced works in quantum computing.'
Edmonton Journal
4 days ago
- Science
- Edmonton Journal
Raymond Laflamme, Canadian pioneer in quantum computing, has died
Article content Raymond Laflamme, a Canadian pioneer in the field of quantum information processing who once worked with Stephen Hawking, has died after a lengthy bout with cancer. The University of Waterloo announced his death in a press release this week. He died June 19 on what would have been his 65th birthday. Born in Québec City, the third of five siblings, Laflamme studied physics as an undergraduate at the Université Laval before moving to England to continue his education there.
CTV News
5 days ago
- Health
- CTV News
University of Waterloo mourns passing of pioneer, Raymond Laflamme
Raymond Laflamme presents a gift to his former PhD supervisor Stephen Hawking during a visit to the IQC. (Courtesy: University of Waterloo) A man hailed as a trailblazer in the world of quantum information processing has died after a lengthy battle with cancer. The University of Waterloo announced the passing of Raymond Laflamme in a news release on Monday. Laflamme was originally from Québec City and studied Physics at Université Laval. He eventually moved to England, where he earned his PhD at Cambridge University under the guidance of the renown physicist Stephen Hawking. In 2001, Laflamme joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. He also became a founding executive director of the Institute for Quantum Computing (ICQ). His work, using linear optics to approach quantum information processing, became one of the most referenced works in quantum computing. Laflamme was an Officer of the Order of Canada, received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and was a Canada Research Chair among his many achievements, accolades and recognitions. 'Laflamme had an adventurous spirit and a light-hearted sense of humour. His curiosity about the world never dimmed. When he was diagnosed with lung cancer, he turned something tragic into a new research avenue. He started a project with researchers at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener to investigate quantum technologies for cancer research and treatment,' the university's release read. 'The IQC, Science and Waterloo community has lost a leader, teacher, mentor and friend. We offer our deepest condolences to Laflamme's family.'
Arab News
12-06-2025
- Science
- Arab News
Book Review: ‘Brief Answers to the Big Questions'
Stephen Hawking's 'Brief Answers to the Big Questions' is a fascinating and thought-provoking exploration of science's most profound mysteries, offering insights into the origins of the universe and humanity's place within it. Published in 2018, this final work by the renowned physicist combines complex scientific ideas with accessible explanations, making it a must-read for anyone curious about the cosmos. Hawking begins by addressing how the universe came into existence. He explains that the laws of physics are sufficient to describe the universe's origins, suggesting that it could arise from a state of nothingness due to the balance of positive and negative energy. By linking this to the nature of time, which began alongside the universe itself, he offers a perspective grounded in scientific reasoning. The book also delves into the evolution of the universe and the evidence supporting it. Hawking discusses how the redshift of light from distant galaxies confirms the universe's expansion, while the cosmic microwave background radiation provides a glimpse into its dense, hot beginnings. Through the anthropic principle, he demonstrates how the unique conditions of our universe make life possible, underscoring how rare such conditions are. Hawking also considers the possibility of extraterrestrial life, suggesting that while life may exist elsewhere, intelligent civilizations are unlikely to be nearby or at the same stage of development. He cautions against attempts to communicate with alien life, warning that such interactions could pose risks to humanity. One of the book's most intriguing sections explores black holes. Hawking examines their immense density, the singularity at their core, and the paradox of information loss. He explains how black holes might release information as they evaporate, preserving the fundamental laws of physics. Beyond its scientific insights, the book is a call to action. Hawking urges readers to prioritize scientific progress, safeguard the planet, and prepare for the challenges of the future. Though some sections may challenge non-experts, 'Brief Answers to the Big Questions' remains accessible, inspiring, and deeply insightful — a fitting conclusion to Hawking's extraordinary legacy.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
What if the Big Bang wasn't the beginning? New research suggests it may have taken place inside a black hole
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The Big Bang is often described as the explosive birth of the universe — a singular moment when space, time and matter sprang into existence. But what if this was not the beginning at all? What if our universe emerged from something else — something more familiar and radical at the same time? In a new paper, published in Physical Review D, my colleagues and I propose a striking alternative. Our calculations suggest the Big Bang was not the start of everything, but rather the outcome of a gravitational crunch or collapse that formed a very massive black hole — followed by a bounce inside it. This idea, which we call the black hole universe, offers a radically different view of cosmic origins, yet it is grounded entirely in known physics and observations. Today's standard cosmological model, based on the Big Bang and cosmic inflation (the idea that the early universe rapidly blew up in size), has been remarkably successful in explaining the structure and evolution of the universe. But it comes at a price: it leaves some of the most fundamental questions unanswered. For one, the Big Bang model begins with a singularity — a point of infinite density where the laws of physics break down. This is not just a technical glitch; it's a deep theoretical problem that suggests we don't really understand the beginning at all. To explain the universe's large-scale structure, physicists introduced a brief phase of rapid expansion into the early universe called cosmic inflation, powered by an unknown field with strange properties. Later, to explain the accelerating expansion observed today, they added another "mysterious" component: dark energy. Related: 5 fascinating facts about the Big Bang, the theory that defines the history of the universe In short, the standard model of cosmology works well — but only by introducing new ingredients we have never observed directly. Meanwhile, the most basic questions remain open: where did everything come from? Why did it begin this way? And why is the universe so flat, smooth, and large? Our new model tackles these questions from a different angle — by looking inward instead of outward. Instead of starting with an expanding universe and trying to trace back how it began, we consider what happens when an overly dense collection of matter collapses under gravity. This is a familiar process: stars collapse into black holes, which are among the most well-understood objects in physics. But what happens inside a black hole, beyond the event horizon from which nothing can escape, remains a mystery. In 1965, the British physicist Roger Penrose proved that under very general conditions, gravitational collapse must lead to a singularity. This result, extended by the late British physicist Stephen Hawking and others, underpins the idea that singularities — like the one at the Big Bang — are unavoidable. The idea helped win Penrose a share of the 2020 Nobel prize in physics and inspired Hawking's global bestseller A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. But there's a caveat. These "singularity theorems" rely on "classical physics" which describes ordinary macroscopic objects. If we include the effects of quantum mechanics, which rules the tiny microcosmos of atoms and particles, as we must at extreme densities, the story may change. In our new paper, we show that gravitational collapse does not have to end in a singularity. We find an exact analytical solution — a mathematical result with no approximations. Our maths show that as we approach the potential singularity, the size of the universe changes as a (hyperbolic) function of cosmic time. This simple mathematical solution describes how a collapsing cloud of matter can reach a high-density state and then bounce, rebounding outward into a new expanding phase. But how come Penrose's theorems forbid out such outcomes? It's all down to a rule called the quantum exclusion principle, which states that no two identical particles known as fermions can occupy the same quantum state (such as angular momentum, or "spin"). And we show that this rule prevents the particles in the collapsing matter from being squeezed indefinitely. As a result, the collapse halts and reverses. The bounce is not only possible — it's inevitable under the right conditions. Crucially, this bounce occurs entirely within the framework of general relativity, which applies on large scales such as stars and galaxies, combined with the basic principles of quantum mechanics — no exotic fields, extra dimensions or speculative physics required. What emerges on the other side of the bounce is a universe remarkably like our own. Even more surprisingly, the rebound naturally produces the two separate phases of accelerated expansion — inflation and dark energy — driven not by a hypothetical fields but by the physics of the bounce itself. One of the strengths of this model is that it makes testable predictions. It predicts a small but non-zero amount of positive spatial curvature — meaning the universe is not exactly flat, but slightly curved, like the surface of the Earth. This is simply a relic of the initial small over-density that triggered the collapse. If future observations, such as the ongoing Euclid mission, confirm a small positive curvature, it would be a strong hint that our universe did indeed emerge from such a bounce. It also makes predictions about the current universe's rate of expansion, something that has already been verified. This model does more than fix technical problems with standard cosmology. It could also shed new light on other deep mysteries in our understanding of the early universe — such as the origin of supermassive black holes, the nature of dark matter, or the hierarchical formation and evolution of galaxies. These questions will be explored by future space missions such as Arrakihs, which will study diffuse features such as stellar halos (a spherical structure of stars and globular clusters surrounding galaxies) and satellite galaxies (smaller galaxies that orbit larger ones) that are difficult to detect with traditional telescopes from Earth and will help us understand dark matter and galaxy evolution. These phenomena might also be linked to relic compact objects — such as black holes — that formed during the collapsing phase and survived the bounce. RELATED STORIES —When will the universe die? —Universe may revolve once every 500 billion years — and that could solve a problem that threatened to break cosmology —Scientists may have finally found where the 'missing half' of the universe's matter is hiding The black hole universe also offers a new perspective on our place in the cosmos. In this framework, our entire observable universe lies inside the interior of a black hole formed in some larger "parent" universe. We are not special, no more than Earth was in the geocentric worldview that led Galileo (the astronomer who suggested the Earth revolves around the Sun in the 16th and 17th centuries) to be placed under house arrest. We are not witnessing the birth of everything from nothing, but rather the continuation of a cosmic cycle — one shaped by gravity, quantum mechanics, and the deep interconnections between them. This edited article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
