The Fields Institute Turns Twenty-Five 170725 Final book with covers | Page 87

CHAPTER 14
Early Days and Near Mishaps
Bradd Hart
“A colleague from Paris, shortly after arriving said, ‘this is
fantastic—anything I want to know and anyone I want to talk
with—I just walk out of my office and take a look around!’”
My first explicit memory of the Fields Institute comes from
Jerry Marsden. I was a postdoc at Berkeley, and Jerry and
I played squash. As I started to apply for jobs, I asked for
his opinion. He said that I should definitely consider the
Toronto area because there was going to be a new and exciting
mathematics institute in Southern Ontario. Although I had
no idea at the time that he was going to be the Director, I
was impressed, having spent time in Berkeley and seeing the
importance of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute
(MSRI). It seemed incredible that there was going to be a
similar institute in Ontario.
After I accepted a job at McMaster University, Matt
Valeriote and I immediately started scheming about how to