Quantum Computing: Untangling the Hype

Quantum technology has the potential to revolutionise whole fields of computing; from cryptography to molecular modelling. But how do quantum computers work?
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Join leading experts to untangle the quantum computing hype, at this event supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Artur Ekert works on information processing in quantum-mechanical systems. His invention of entanglement-based quantum cryptography in 1991 triggered an explosion of research efforts worldwide and continues to inspire new research directions. As well as showing that Bell’s inequalities can be used to test for eavesdropping, he has contributed to many important advances in the foundations and experimental realisations of quantum communication and computation. He has played a leading role in transforming quantum information science into a vibrant interdisciplinary field.

Harry Buhrman got his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Amsterdam. Buhrman built the quantum computing group at CWI, which was one of the first groups worldwide and the first in The Netherlands working on quantum information processing. Buhrman’s research focuses on quantum computing, algorithms, and complexity theory. He co-developed the area of quantum communication complexity (quantum distributed computing), and demonstrated for the first time that certain communication tasks can be solved (exponentially) more efficient with quantum resources. This showed that quantum computers can not only speed up computations, but also communication – which opened up a whole new application area of quantum information processing. Buhrman co-developed a general method to establish the limitations of quantum computers, and a framework for the study of quantum algorithms, which is now textbook material.

In 2001, Harry Buhrman became professor of algorithms, complexity theory, and quantum computing at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and group leader of the Quantum Computing Group at the Center for Mathematics and Informatics (CWI). Buhrman co-founded QuSoft in 2015, a research center for quantum software, for which he is also co-director. During his career, Buhrman obtained various prestigious awards. Buhrman also has a leading role in the national Quantum Software Consortium that was awarded an NWO Gravity grant in 2017.”

The event is chaired by award-winning science writer Philip Ball, whose latest book is entitled 'Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew About Quantum Physics Is Different.'

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