The Fields Institute Turns Twenty-Five 170725 Final book with covers | Page 40

18
Steve Halperin
misgivings from the community: a number of mathematicians
feared that existing funds for research would be diluted by the
needs of a new institute. If there were only two institutes for
mathematics research in the entire United States (MSRI on
the west coast and the IAS in Princeton), how could Canada
with its much smaller resources support two?
The NSERC committee, which included Bob Langlands,
recommended that the Fields Institute be funded, but there
was a condition, namely, that it be located at one of the three
founding universities or at a point equidistant from all three.
As this was an unrealistic idea, a second review committee was
struck, chaired by Phillip Griffiths, Director of the Institute
for Advanced Studies (1991–2003). Seven universities applied
to be permanent hosts for the Fields Institute (Waterloo,
McMaster, Toronto, Guelph, Windsor, Queen’s, and York),
and the committee travelled to all these locations to evaluate
their proposals. The travelling committee and its site visits
have become legendary.
Every competing university mustered support from its own
mathematics community. I remember having lunch at the
Faculty Club with David Andrews, Chair of Statistics, and
Derek Corneil, Director of Research Initiatives. As we left
the Club, we bumped into Rob Prichard, President of the
University. At seeing the three of us together, Prichard
inquired light-heartedly whether there was a conspiracy under
way. We admitted guilt and explained to Prichard our hopes
that the Fields Institute would come to Toronto. Prichard was
immediately engaged. He saw the Fields Institute as part of his
broader ambition to assert the pre-eminence of the University
of Toronto as Canada’s leading research university.
In Toronto, there were a number of other people responsible
for convincing Rob Prichard to give his full support to
having the Fields Institute on campus, among them Michael
Finlayson, vice-president of Administration. Once convinced,