A world-renowned Toronto-based scientist has pledged $1 million to help repair the Ontario Science Centre.
British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton, AKA the ‘Godfather of AI,’ made the financial commitment during an interview with The Globe and Mail. During the interview, he criticized the provincial government’s decision to suddenly close the historical science museum last week.
The government attributed the closure to faulty roof tiles and said repairs could cost as much as $40 million over a two- to five-year period. However, the firm behind the construction of the building said it was unnecessary to completely shut down the facility.
“Repairs are needed, but on a manageable scale and with potentially minimal impact on the public experience of the building,” the group concluded, estimating that short-term fixes could cost just over $500,000. Many have since called for the Science Centre to at least partially remain open while repairs take place, and now, Hinton is calling for the same.
“The Science Centre engages children’s natural curiosity about the world, which is the foundation of all science and engineering,” said Hinton, an emeritus professor of computer science at the University of Toronto. “They are going to need some understanding of science and engineering to deal with whatever future awaits us. It would be a tragedy to lose one of Ontario’s jewels.”
Hinton said he would speak to others in the tech space to pool together additional funding. This would be on top of the $1.5 million that former Shopify executives have said they would either raise or put forward to fix the Science Centre.
Image credit: Ontario Science Centre
Source: The Globe and Mail
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