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A shortcut through time: The path to the quantum computer
The newest Pentium chip powering PCs and laptops contains 40 million electronic switches packed onto a piece of silicon about the size of a thumbnail. Several years from now, if this incredible shrinking continues, a single chip will hold a billion switches, then a trillion. The logical culmination...
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Lenguaje: | eng |
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Jonathan Cape
2003
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Acceso en línea: | http://cds.cern.ch/record/1544514 |
_version_ | 1780930030555103232 |
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author | Johnson, George |
author_facet | Johnson, George |
author_sort | Johnson, George |
collection | CERN |
description | The newest Pentium chip powering PCs and laptops contains 40 million electronic switches packed onto a piece of silicon about the size of a thumbnail. Several years from now, if this incredible shrinking continues, a single chip will hold a billion switches, then a trillion. The logical culmination is a computer in which the switches are so tiny that each consists of an individual atom. At that point something miraculous happens: Quantum mechanics kick in. Anyone who follows the science news or watches 'Star Trek' has at least a notion of what that means: particles that can be in two or more places at once, that can seem one moment like hard little specks of matter and the next like waves. Atoms obey a peculiar logic of their own - and if it can be harnessed society will be transformed. Problems that would now take for ever even on a supercomputer would be solved almost instantly. Quantum computing promises nothing less than a shortcut through time. In this brief and totally absorbing book, we are brought to the front of one of the most engaging and far-reaching scientific dramas of this new century. The ticket for admission is a rough feel for a few basic ideas, and a willingness to suspend disbelief. |
id | cern-1544514 |
institution | Organización Europea para la Investigación Nuclear |
language | eng |
publishDate | 2003 |
publisher | Jonathan Cape |
record_format | invenio |
spelling | cern-15445142021-04-21T22:43:10Zhttp://cds.cern.ch/record/1544514engJohnson, GeorgeA shortcut through time: The path to the quantum computerComputing and ComputersThe newest Pentium chip powering PCs and laptops contains 40 million electronic switches packed onto a piece of silicon about the size of a thumbnail. Several years from now, if this incredible shrinking continues, a single chip will hold a billion switches, then a trillion. The logical culmination is a computer in which the switches are so tiny that each consists of an individual atom. At that point something miraculous happens: Quantum mechanics kick in. Anyone who follows the science news or watches 'Star Trek' has at least a notion of what that means: particles that can be in two or more places at once, that can seem one moment like hard little specks of matter and the next like waves. Atoms obey a peculiar logic of their own - and if it can be harnessed society will be transformed. Problems that would now take for ever even on a supercomputer would be solved almost instantly. Quantum computing promises nothing less than a shortcut through time. In this brief and totally absorbing book, we are brought to the front of one of the most engaging and far-reaching scientific dramas of this new century. The ticket for admission is a rough feel for a few basic ideas, and a willingness to suspend disbelief.Jonathan Capeoai:cds.cern.ch:15445142003 |
spellingShingle | Computing and Computers Johnson, George A shortcut through time: The path to the quantum computer |
title | A shortcut through time: The path to the quantum computer |
title_full | A shortcut through time: The path to the quantum computer |
title_fullStr | A shortcut through time: The path to the quantum computer |
title_full_unstemmed | A shortcut through time: The path to the quantum computer |
title_short | A shortcut through time: The path to the quantum computer |
title_sort | shortcut through time: the path to the quantum computer |
topic | Computing and Computers |
url | http://cds.cern.ch/record/1544514 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT johnsongeorge ashortcutthroughtimethepathtothequantumcomputer AT johnsongeorge shortcutthroughtimethepathtothequantumcomputer |