Why the race to build a quantum computer?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 12 September 2019
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Quantum computers could transform our lives. Based on a branch of Physics that even Einstein found "spooky", the machines are still in their infancy. But governments and corporations are spending billions trying to turn them into workable technology. Neal Razzell finds out why by talking to four experts:
Shohini Ghose, Professor of Physics and Computer Science at Wilfred Laurier University in Canada Stephanie Wehner, Professor in Quantum Information at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands Winifried Hensinger, Professor or Quantum Technologies at the University of Sussex Jonathan Dowling, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Louisiana and author of 'Quantum Technology - The Second Quantum Revolution' and 'Schrödinger's Killer App - Race to Build the World's First Quantum Computer'.
Image: Professor Winfried Hensinger with a quantum computer prototype at the University of Sussex. Credit: Ion Quantum Technology Group, University of Sussex, UK.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the inquiry on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:03.0 | I'm Neil Riselle. |
| 0:04.3 | Each week, four expert witnesses answer one question from the news. The question was perhaps inevitable for Canada's Prime Minister. |
| 0:17.0 | Justin Trudeau stood before a blackboard in the University lecture hall. Behind him were long equations written in chalk. |
| 0:25.4 | A reporter jokingly asked if he could explain how quantum computers worked. |
| 0:30.8 | Very simply, normal computers work by. |
| 0:34.0 | No, no, no, don't interrupt it. |
| 0:41.0 | Mr. Trudeau gamely launched in. |
| 0:43.0 | allows us to encode more information into a much smaller computer. |
| 0:48.0 | So that's what's exciting about quantum computing. |
| 0:51.0 | And that's what we're going. |
| 0:52.0 | There's a reason he was prepared. |
| 0:56.0 | Mr. Trudeau was there to write a 50 million dollar government check |
| 1:00.0 | to fund theoretical and quantum research. |
| 1:03.0 | It's not just Canada investing in quantum technology. |
| 1:06.4 | The US has pledged more than a billion dollars in the coming years. |
| 1:10.2 | China has promised even more. And it's not just nation states. |
| 1:14.0 | Big corporations are piling in too. |
| 1:17.0 | One of our expert witnesses says money is falling out of the sky. |
| 1:29.0 | The ideas behind quantum computing are more than a century old. As companies and countries rush to turn them into a workable technology, we're asking, why the race to build a quantum computer? Part 1, Embracing Uncertainty. |
| 1:47.0 | Unracing Uncertainty. So Quantum is a misunderstood word I think. |
| 1:57.0 | Schaini Gosh is a professor of physics and computer science at Wilfrid Loria University in Canada. |
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