Inside Pittsburgh's New Quantum Computer

Quantum computing has spent years being described as the technology that's always 10 years away. In Pittsburgh, that future is getting a lot closer. University of Pittsburgh Senior Vice Chancellor for Research Rob Rutenbar joins Pittsburgh Technology Council President and CEO Audrey Russo to unpack the quantum computer headed to the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center through funding from the National Science Foundation. And don't worry if you can't tell a qubit from a Q-tip. Rutenbar starts with the basics, explaining how quantum computers work, why qubits can exist as both zeros and ones, what Einstein meant by "spooky action at a distance," and why Pittsburgh's new Rigetti system has to operate at temperatures colder than outer space. The PSC's nine-qubit system is considered a starter quantum computer, but its arrival gives Pittsburgh researchers something enormously important: hands-on access to an emerging computing technology that could ultimately tackle problems conventional computers struggle to solve. Hit play to discover why Pittsburgh is building serious momentum in quantum computing, how quantum could transform cryptography, drug discovery, materials science and optimization, and why pairing a quantum computer with PSC's world-class supercomputing infrastructure creates one very powerful combination. Quantum isn't just coming. It's coming to Pittsburgh.