The Fields Institute Turns Twenty-Five 170725 Final book with covers | Page 56

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Peter Lancaster
may have been a little too elaborate. The architectural design
for a new building to house the Institute included a domed
portico which was later removed from the plans out of financial
considerations (see drawing on pages iv–v).
Among the memorable Fields activities that I have
experienced, I particularly remember a conference on
Applications of Operator Theory held at the University
of Manitoba in 1994.
I was Chair of the Program
Committee—and it also happened to coincide with my
retirement from the teaching staff at the University of Calgary.
So a very successful international mathematical gathering was
also the scene of a retirement celebration, which included my
wife, Edna, and my three daughters.
I believe that the Fields Institute—and the other
mathematical institutes of Canada—have provided, and
continue to provide, an extraordinary stimulus to research in
the mathematical sciences across the country.