{"id":102995,"date":"2025-07-29T20:43:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T20:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/102995\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T20:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T20:43:09","slug":"physicist-raymond-laflamme-helped-put-canada-at-the-forefront-of-quantum-computing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/102995\/","title":{"rendered":"Physicist Raymond Laflamme helped put Canada at the forefront of quantum computing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Raymond Laflamme died on June 19 from lung cancer, one month before his 65th birthday.Jim Ross\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Raymond Laflamme, an internationally renowned Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois physicist, founding member of two major Canadian research institutes, and driving force behind Canada\u2019s world-leading quantum computing community, died on June 19 from lung cancer, one month before his 65th birthday.<\/p>\n

Led by his curiosity and sense of adventure, Dr. Laflamme did pioneering work in quantum physics that had a profound impact on Canadian science and the people around him.<\/p>\n

Raymond Julien Joseph Laflamme was born in Quebec City on July 19, 1960. He studied undergraduate physics at Laval University and earned his PhD in Cambridge, England, supervised by the famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking. The bestselling author of A Brief History of Time publicly credited Dr. Laflamme\u2019s influence on his own theories.<\/p>\n

In 1992, after postdoctoral fellowships in Vancouver and Cambridge, Dr. Laflamme moved to the United States with his wife, physiotherapist Janice Gregson, where he joined the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Their son, Patrick, was born in 1993, and the birth of their daughter, Jocelyne, followed in 1995. <\/p>\n

In Los Alamos, Dr. Laflamme made an unusual career change, shifting from theory to experiment, and from cosmology to the emerging field of quantum information processing.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a reason that I don\u2019t understand, I am incredibly, incredibly curious. When I see things around me and I look at phenomena around, I want to know something,\u201d Dr. Laflamme said in a 2021 interview.<\/p>\n

Dr. Laflamme catapulted to the forefront of quantum computing, which uses superposition, entanglement and related phenomena to do calculations even the most powerful conventional computers cannot handle. His pioneering advances in quantum error correction and optical measurement helped move quantum computing from an esoteric branch of theoretical physics toward practical technologies. <\/p>\n

In 2000, his growing reputation drew the attention of Canadian billionaire Mike Lazaridis, who courted him for his still-in-creation physics institute in Waterloo, Ont. Dr. Laflamme agreed to join the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, as long as Mr. Lazaridis also supported a second institute for experimental work in quantum computing. Much of the relevant science was still in its infancy \u2013 there were no guarantees that the technologies Dr. Laflamme and Mr. Lazaridis were discussing would ever become reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetting on quantum computing in 2001, it\u2019s hard to believe today, when people are pouring billions of dollars into it, that it wasn\u2019t an obvious thing to do,\u201d said Robert Myers, another founding member of the Perimeter Institute. \u201cThere\u2019s just this adventurous spirit Ray had, that he was willing to make that leap.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2002, Dr. Laflamme became the founding director of the Institute for Quantum Computing, a position he held for 15 years. Through IQC, Perimeter, and other projects, Dr. Laflamme became a powerhouse in Canada\u2019s quantum computing community. <\/p>\n

In 2003, he became director of Quantum Information Processing, an international research group at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. He co-chaired the federal government\u2019s Quantum Advisory Council. He tirelessly supported hundreds of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and other scholars who went on to influential positions at research institutes and companies. <\/p>\n

Today, Canadian quantum computing researchers punch far above their weight globally in published papers, startup companies and overall talent pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada is a player,\u201d Dr. Myers said. \u201cThat\u2019s really because of the efforts of people like Ray. IQC has spawned generations of researchers in this field. You can go to the IBMs or the Googles or research institutes around the world and find people who had their start here in Waterloo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with many academic honours, Dr. Laflamme became an officer of the Order of Canada in 2017, in recognition of his scientific leadership and contributions to the country. <\/p>\n

Colleagues praised Dr. Laflamme\u2019s influential research, though many attributed his greatest impact to the unbounded kindness, support and enthusiasm he showed the people around him. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis scientific achievements and contributions to the quantum community in Canada are well documented. But the image I\u2019ve been carrying with me this week is just of his gentle smile,\u201d University of Toronto physics professor Aephraim Steinberg, a longtime colleague and friend, said in an e-mail. \u201cFor all his energy and his ambition \u2026 what I remember is the sense of calm and simple joy in the shared scientific quest, which he carried and projected around himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Laflamme worked long hours during the early days of getting the institute off the ground, but always stayed connected to family and friends. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe must have worked seven days a week. \u2026 Often, he\u2019d be at dinners, he would be flying all over, gone for a week here, a week there. He worked incredibly hard. A very high-energy person,\u201d Ms. Gregson, his wife, said. \u201cHe really enjoyed people, and so when IQC started, we would have people for dinner three nights a week. He would collect people that had nowhere to go at Christmas, and we\u2019d have them for dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

He took his children to public science lectures and to dinners with speakers afterwards. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Dad would sit down with them, they would come out of their shell,\u201d Patrick Laflamme said. \u201cThey would start talking. We would just share and hear the most incredible stories from people all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students, fellows and colleagues remembered Dr. Laflamme\u2019s warmth. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis scientific brilliance is something we will always recall, but his human nature was very rare,\u201d said Urbasi Sinha, a former postdoctoral fellow at IQC. When one of Dr. Sinha\u2019s experiments took years to complete, Dr. Laflamme\u2019s support never wavered. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was a bit worried. This experiment was taking so long. What was going to happen to my career?\u201d she said. \u201cOne of those very nice lessons you learned working with him was about how patience is important, and to just focus on getting it done. It got done, and beautifully done. \u2026 Every time you interacted with him, you got back a little more faith that okay, I think honest science is still all right.\u201d <\/p>\n

In 2010, Dr. Sinha became pregnant. She worried what Dr. Laflamme would say about the disruption to the work. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was really apologetic when I told him, and he just looked at me and said, \u2018That is the best thing that can happen to anyone,\u2019\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Dr. Laflamme created a scholarship in his and Ms. Gregson\u2019s name for female graduate students at IQC, and actively maintained a supportive environment for new parents. <\/p>\n

Shayan Majidy, one of Dr. Laflamme\u2019s PhD students, collaborated with him on a quantum computing textbook. He still marvels that they ended up working together at all. <\/p>\n

\u201cI actually almost failed out of undergrad, barely made it. … My physics background was really not strong enough to be considered as a student of somebody like Ray,\u201d Dr. Majidy said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut he valued a lot of different types of strengths. \u2026 We had some people who came from the traditional, very studious, very book-smart route. And other people who maybe had stronger skills on the communication side or were creative in different ways. He was willing to accommodate people at very many different strides and paces in his group. I think that added to the richness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Laflamme mixed his scientific curiosity with a lifelong love of Canadian wilderness. He skied, canoed, hiked and biked. He built his first sauna with his brother in his teens. Later, in winters at the family cottage, he\u2019d cut a hole in the pond ice for a plunge before retiring to his latest wood-fire sauna. He endlessly tinkered with the 1979 pop-top Volkswagen camper bus the family took on road trips all over North America. He delighted in hosting major research meetings as far as possible from Canada\u2019s large cities and universities. <\/p>\n

\u201cRay loved to explore wild and wonderful places. He was an adventurer,\u201d said Tobi Day-Hamilton, who worked in communications at IQC. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t only curious about science. He was curious about people. He wanted to know and understand people more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

She attended one of Dr. Laflamme\u2019s research meetings in Iqaluit with more than 30 quantum physicists and other international scientists. The group ventured out into Sylvia Grinnell (Iqaluit Kuunga) Territorial Park to view the aurorae. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all lying on benches looking up and watching the Northern Lights dance above us. For a lot of us, me included, it was the first time we\u2019d ever seen them. And there\u2019s Ray, this giant in quantum research, explaining the phenomena. Every person who was there was like, \u2018Wow, this is magic.\u2019 I\u2019m getting shivers just talking about it. Ray wanted to share that. He always wanted to share his knowledge of how the world worked and make sure that everyone left feeling that magic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Laflamme spent most of his last nine weeks hospitalized to treat lung cancer, which he developed despite an absence of obvious risk factors. He spent his last week at home, in the care and company of family and friends. His daughter, Jocelyne, moved her wedding forward, getting married at Dr. Laflamme\u2019s bedside so he could share in the celebration. <\/p>\n

Even as he said his final goodbyes to colleagues and loved ones, he maintained the positivity and caring that drove his extraordinary career.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said to me, \u2018Well, just keep it positive,\u2019\u201d Ms. Gregson said. \u201cHe was positive right to the end. Like, \u2018I\u2019ve had a really good life. I\u2019ve had a wonderful life. Don\u2019t be sad.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

You can find more obituaries from The Globe and Mail here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To submit a memory about someone we have recently profiled on the Obituaries page, e-mail us at obit@globeandmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Raymond Laflamme died on June 19 from lung cancer, one month before his…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":102996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[745,19617,9455,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-102995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-computing","9":"tag-noastack","10":"tag-obituary","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114938472423428227","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}