In this case, literally.

Big BIG news today that Stephen Hawking, “superstar” cosmologist, has accepted a distinguished research chair at the prestigious Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, and Canada’s “crown jewel” of theoretical physics study.

The Perimeter Institute is a research centre devoted to theoretical physics that was founded in 1999 by Research In Motion co-CEO Mike Lazaridis.

Hawking, who currently holds Issac Newton’s old job as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University is set to retire next year, and his new position with the Perimeter Institute will see Prof. Hawking make regular visits to the southwestern Ontario city, beginning next summer.

Prof. Hawking indicated that he expects his new appointment will lead to a growing partnership between the Canadian institute and the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at Cambridge University.

”Our research endeavour is global, and by combining forces I believe we will reap rich rewards,” he said.

Neil Turok, the new director of the Perimeter Institute, is a close research associate of Prof. Hawking. Indeed, after his appointment to the Waterloo institute, there were rumours that he would bring Prof. Hawking with him. The institute said last summer that it was working on a single visit by Prof. Hawking, best known for his work on black holes and his theories of the origin of the universe. Those talks have led to the more extensive arrangement.

This is some very cool science news, indeed. I wonder if he’ll finally perfect warp drive while he’s in Canada…

– S.