Motor Neurone Disease: Immigration

Enrico Fermi Dept: Earlier that week, doctors had advised Watt never a smoker that he needed to stay in hospital in Kitchener. He responded, “I’m sorry, but I simply cannot miss the celebration at the Perimeter Institute.” Says his wife, Ainslie, “It was his swan song. He never recovered from the extreme effort of being part of that celebration. I believe he was hanging on with that date in mind. It was a perfect example of Lynn’s determination.” Watt died less than three weeks later, on July 7, at the Grand River Health Care Centre in Kitchener, Ont. He was 85, according to Globe And Mail. “I’d say Lynn was a humble man, and maybe somewhat underappreciated because of it,” says Lazaridis. “I remember having one of our annual scientific advisory council dinners. I had the privilege of sitting with some of the most distinguished scientists in the world, who had come to advise us on various areas of study and so forth. I forget the topic, but Lynn piped up with ‘I had a discussion with Enrico about that.’ The room went silent. You could hear knives and forks and spoons being put down. People turned to Lynn and said, incredulously, ‘You mean Enrico Fermi?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’” The Perimeter Institute, founded with a gift of $100-million from Research in Motion’s Mike Lazaridis , is a research facility and outreach program. The guest of honour that June night was astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, the visiting distinguished research chair. Hawking, using his wheelchair, was making his way down a hallway at the institute when Watt, labouring with a walker and late-stage esophageal cancer, stopped him for a photograph. Communication was difficult for both men Hawking has motor neurone disease and speaks slowly with the assistance of a computer-generated voice , so, aside from pleasantries, little was said. But for Watt, it was akin to meeting a deity. Mike Lazaridis, a student of Watt’s at the University of Waterloo in the early eighties, says Watt was an easy choice when it came to putting together a board to run the Perimeter Institute. It was a position that Watt happily filled from the project’s inception in 2000 until his death. Not only did he enjoy the academic stimulation and challenges, but he and his wife were regular attendees at the institute’s many concerts. As reported in the news.
@t perimeter institute, scientific advisory council