| Sumario: | The writer discusses the possibility of constructing a computer around the quantum physics that governs the strange and uncertain behavior of atoms and subatomic particles. According to a group of physicists and mathematicians working on the question of whether such a computer could be built, quantum computing could change computing just as completely as quantum physics changed the Newtonian certainties of classical physics earlier this century. What makes quantum computing so attractive is that it would be better than even the best of today's supercomputers for some jobs due to its mastery of parallel processing. In addition, there are three mathematical challenges known in which quantum computers would outdo ordinary digital computers—cracking secret codes, searching unsorted databases, and finding single numbers that depend collectively on lots of data. How quantum computers would work, the efforts being made to build them, and the likely problems that they would encounter are considered.
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