Why scientists are so excited about “quantum supremacy” ?
Computer scientists have seen quantum supremacy — the moment
while a quantum computer could perform an action a conventional computer
couldn’t — as an elusive, important milestone for their field.
There are many
research groups working on quantum computers and applications, but it appears
Google has beaten its rivals to this milestone.
According to John Preskill, the Caltech particle physicist
who coined the term “quantum supremacy,” Google’s quantum computer “is
something new in the exploration of nature. These systems are doing things that
are unprecedented."
Some researchers at IBM contest the “supremacy” claim,
saying that a traditional supercomputer could solve the problem in 2.5 days,
not 10,000 years. Still, 200 seconds is a lot quicker than 2.5 days. If the
quantum computer isn’t supreme, it’s still extremely impressive because it’s so
small and so efficient.
They got one little chip in the quantum computer and
the supercomputer is covering a basketball court.
It sounds all very gee-whiz. And some scientists think these
computers will one day lead to discoveries of new drugs and possibly whole new
fields of chemistry.
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