Computer technology has improved exponentially over the last fifty years. But the headroom for bigger and better electronic solutions is running out. Our best hope is to engage the power of quantum physics. “Quantum algorithms” had already been written long before hardware was built. These would enable, for example, a quantum computer to exponentially speed up an information search or crack the mathematical trick behind internet security. However, making a quantum computer is incredibly difficult. Despite hundreds of laboratories around the world working on them, we are only just seeing them come close to “supremacy,” where they can outperform a traditional computer. In this approachable introduction to the subject, Brian Clegg explains algorithms and their quantum counterparts, explores the physical building blocks and quantum weirdness necessary to make a quantum computer, and uncovers the capabilities of the current generation of machines.
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Brian Clegg has written many science books, including Dice World and A Brief History of Infinity, both of which were longlisted for the Royal Society Prize for Science Books. He has written for Nature, BBC Focus, Physics World, the London Times, and London Observer.
Qarie Marshall is an Earphones Award–winning narrator. He has narrated more than thirty series for the Discovery Channel, TLC, and the BBC, as well as providing the in-flight programming for Virgin Atlantic Airlines and BBC radio plays. He has voiced over eighty video games for the PlayStation and Xbox and was a guest voice on Comedy Central’s Drawn Together. He was made an associate artist of the Purple Rose Theatre in 2007.