I hope this message finds you and your family healthy and safe. During the last year, I have continued to get to know and appreciate all of you, both in Toronto and across Canada and the world! I have called upon you to help CITA with its mission and will continue to do so in the future. Since our last “Year In Review” our world has changed in both very positive and very negative ways. We have lost CITAzens 鈥� early career and veteran alike. Armed conflicts roil the world and prevent untold numbers from achieving their potential. Our community perseveres in facing the challenges of COVID-19, and to all of you that continue to suffer, we are here for you! We have also had major scientific and creative breakthroughs within our community: honors, awards, new unions, and new beings have come forth at CITA! We welcome and celebrate you all!
The role of the theorist is to dream. We are often not the ones turning the knobs at the inspiring experiments and marvels of modern engineering. Our work begins well before any metal is cut or any laser beams are turned on. Our mission is Possibility. Inspiration cannot be called up at will or managed with charts and timetables. In that spirit, I invite you to consider the time-management wisdom of famed physicist Leo Szilard, who, struggling with his challenging PhD project from Max von Laue in a cold Berlin winter, remarked: “I couldn’t make any headway with it! As a matter of fact, I was not even convinced that this was a problem that could be solved! And I thought Christmas time is not a time to work, it is a time to loaf! So I thought I would just think whatever comes to my mind!” And he did 鈥� particularly during long winter walks. Szilard’s “loafing” led to the foundation of modern information theory. May your loafing be creative, and may you remember that, deep down, you, like Szilard and Dickinson, and all theorists “dwell in possibility.”
Happy Holidays! 鈥�
Juna
