The Origins Institute (OI) is an interdisciplinary research institute based in Hamilton, Ontario at McMaster University. It began its operations as an institute on July 1, 2004.
The OI's vision is to promote origins research that help answer fundamental questions in science, such as: "How and why the universe began?", "How did stars, galaxies and planets form?", "What is the origin of matter and of the elements?", "How did life begin on Earth, and can it also develop on other planets?", "What was the nature of the Universal Ancestor, and how did life evolve from it?", and "How did intelligent beings arise and evolve on Earth"?.
The Origins Institute research can be categorized into 6 interconnecting themes, such as: space-time (particle physics), elements and matter (nuclear astrophysics), structure of the universe (astronomy), life (evolutionary biology, astrobiology), species (biodiversity), and humanity (anthropology, psychology).
Professional members within the institute hail from several fields, including astrobiology, astrophysics, biology, chemistry, biochemistry, psychology, mathematics and anthropology.
Ralph Pudritz, an established theoretical astrophysicist from McMaster, spearheaded the OI project and is its first director. Jonathon Stone is a computational biologist from McMaster, and is the institute's associate director. Well-known academics David Deamer, Martin Rees and Stuart Kauffman sit on the OI advisory council.
Within the next few years, the Origins Institute hopes to establish the first Canadian graduate program devoted to research in astrobiology.
Read more about Origins Institute: Outreach and Conferences, Undergraduate Research Specialization, List of Directors, List of Associate Directors
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