Quantum Computing for Everyone!
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A Course for School Kids and Professionals Together?
That was my first thought as I logged on for my first class. Seriously?
A free, industry-standard, open international course on quantum computing?
Dude, sign me up!
I love programming.
But I prefer tech research — like AI.
And am fanatical about the latest tech — especially in coding.
So when I heard about this course, Qubit by Qubit quantum computing course available from IBM and MIT(whoa!) for free, I had no hesitation signing up instantly.
The next 10 months were some of the most rewarding of my entire life.
MIT Rocks!
Photo by Gautam Krishnan on Unsplash
I will value all I learned about IBM and Qiskit (IBM’s open-source quantum programming framework). But — by far the most engaging part of my course were the instructors and the community of students.
The students ranged from 9th graders with three patents already in their name to research scientists from the UK and the community was absolutely awesome. We had a platform on Discord, and I kept being blown away by the content — some from school kids half my age and the warmth and the mutual respect and the jokes in the community.
MIT is an awesome place to do research. And the teaching staff and our TAs reflected that mentality, one hundred percent.
Gabbie Meis, Fran, Akshay, Rahul, Corbin (one of our TAs — the guy is15 years old and doing research at MIT!) and so many more staff and research scholars gave us a fantastic introduction to quantum computation.
Our course consisted of 2 semesters of around 20 weeks. Part 1 covered Mathematics for Quantum Computing and Part 2 was the Quantum Computation module. We had one class on Sunday for 2 hours and one day at the lab for 1 hour.
I was stunned by the feel of the course. This did not feel like a class environment. This was an adventure, and the family-like, informal, relaxed atmosphere while perhaps a bonus helped us enjoy every single session.
Feedback
I absolutely enjoyed the course. My favorite part was the entanglement explanation. Half-way into the second semester, three days after our lecture day one of my fellow students (it was a worldwide course) proved how much of a mind-bender it was as he showed a demonstration on Discord that messages were transferred faster than the speed of light if we agree with the quantum physics and the equations that describe the model. I was able to follow his argument and we soon realized that we had stumbled on the famous EPR paradox.
The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox
Entanglement between two qubits, once established, maintains its relationship as long as it is not measured and remains unknown. The minute we measure the direction of the first qubit, we automatically determine the direction of the second qubit (spin-up or down), even if they are on the opposite ends of the Milky Way galaxy (not very far — just a 100,000 light-years apart :-) ). It happens instantaneously. The minute we observe one qubit it somehow communicates its state to the other qubit, irrespective of the distance in space!
Photo by Billy Huynh on Unsplash
Quantum Mechanics is full of mind-bending stuff like that. There’s more — much more — perhaps I will do justice to the subject in another article. But here I just want to recommend the course to everyone (whether you’re a high school student or a working professional — you will benefit greatly).
I think the most precious gift that the faculty gave us is a keen interest in quantum computation and quantum physics. I believe our world is in a state of constant flux, and that many scientific discoveries in fields like quantum computation like reducing hardware error and scaling the number of qubits are yet to be fully understood. But I got a fantastic Beginner-Intermediate-Advanced introduction to the field.
Why Quantum Computing?
Moore’s law!
‘Moore’s law is the observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit (IC) doubles about every two years’.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
Astoundingly, that statement has been empirically true over the last thirty years. Now the transistors are so small that we’re reaching the realm of atoms and molecules, where classical physics is replaced by quantum physics.
So the next range of processors will be quantum.
Many authorities predict that quantum computing, being so different from classical computing (read Entanglement-Superposition-Interference and stuff that doesn’t make sense in the macro world) will fundamentally change the world and the field of computers.
Having completed the course, I agree, completely.
I also take great joy in knowing that I have reached a research-level topic. That someday by God’s grace I may be able to add a new theoretical idea to quantum computation, simply because the field is so young.
But most of all I want to encourage you, the reader, to sign up for a QxQ program and spread the enthusiasm for quantum computation and what it can do, worldwide.
A New Beginning
As we look forward, the future seems challenging and mysterious, and some of the mysteries and challenges may never go away. But I am sure that quantum computing has arrived, is foundational, and has a fantastic future. I strongly encourage you to read all you can, and Please, do join the IBM Qubit by Qubit Course — Link given below:
[QubitxQubit | Programs
Future innovators are learning quantum today. Be one of the first students to develop real-world skills in this…qubitbyqubit.org](https://www.qubitbyqubit.org/programs "qubitbyqubit.org/programs")
No longer free, but highly worth your time and money.
Please join. One day you’ll thank me for insisting.
And that’s all the time I have for now I’m working on Quantum Machine Learning and for us, these are exciting times!
Come and join the fun.
Cheers!
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