Welcome to the Quantum Internet

Editor: Alexandra HerrtageFor any confusing terms, check out our Ultimate Quantum Glossary!British scientist Sir Tim Burners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989, whilst he was working at CERN. Believing that it should be a human right to access the internet, he did not patent his creation. Thanks Tim! The internet relies upon transmitting data in the form of 0’s and 1’s via optical or electrical signals (think, fibre-optic broadband). Thanks to the invention of TCP/IP (the internet protocol suite), computers from around the world were unified under a single rule-set and could communicate freely. Before this, the internet was an almost entirely text-based world where users would surf through collections of files and documents. There were no ‘search engines’ and certainly no Instagram. If we go back even more we reach the beginnings of the internet, ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), which was a military and research computer network that only select organisations and universities could access. Now, if we switch to the quantum computing world we see a similar progression. Although unbeknown to many, quantum computing networks have already been invented and are currently sending information and data back and forth. The ability to reliably send information in the form of quantum bits (qubits) offers incredible opportunities for technological advancement and is currently making waves in almost every sector, from finance to scientific research to military operations and soon in every day life. Let’s dive deep in shall we?Starting out with Quantum Computing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Starting out with Quantum Computing at lloydlaronde.substack.com/subscribe