A Shortcut Through Time : The Path to a Quantum Computer - Hardcover

Johnson, George

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0224062336 ISBN 13: 9780224062336

Publisher: Jonathan Cape, 2003

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

George Johnson is a science writer for the New York Times. He is a former Alicia Patterson Fellow, a finalist for the prestigious Aventis Prize, and a recipient of the Science Journalism Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Review:

"Fascinating and highly accessible... Unpicking the complexities of the subject is not easy, but Johnson has done a fine job of it... [An] excellent book" * Scotland on Sunday * "Lucid and accessible... [Written with] a beguiling combination of clarity and enthusiasm" * New Scientist * "Johnson is one of the best science journalists writing today" * Scientific American *

About this edition

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0224062336
• ISBN 13: 9780224062336
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224
• Illustrator: Illustrated Throughout