I should mention that while I was growing up, Einstein was presented as a worthy role model for a young boy who was good at his studies.

About seven years later I was given a book about the periodic table of the elements. For the first time I saw the elegance of scientific theory and its predictive power.

Indeed, we are privileged to have been afforded the opportunity to study Nature and to follow our own thoughts and inspirations in a time of relative tranquillity and in a land with a generous and forward-looking government.

My intention was to enroll at McGill University but an unexpected series of events led me to study physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

For our immediate family and relatives, Canada was a land of opportunity.

By the time I reached high school my father's grocery store had made our life adequately comfortable and I was able to choose, without any practical encumbrances, the subjects that I wanted to pursue in college.

I should mention that while I was growing up, Einstein was presented as a worthy role model for a young boy who was good at his studies.