Can This Quantum-Computing Genius Beat Out IBM and Google?

Few people can say that they have taken a big leap in their field. But if all goes well for Chad Rigetti, this summer will join them, making the machine on your desk be obsolete as an abacus.

"We are on a mission to build the most powerful computer in the world," says Rigetti, "to solve the most pressing problems of humanity." Cancer, climate change, hunger in the world - all the goals of Rigetti technology have in mind. It's a surprising sight for a 38-year-old farm boy from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, who once thought he would grow barley after high school.

To achieve its goal - the creation of the first quantum commercial computer - would be a revolution in computing. Conventional computers reduce logic problems to math and math problems to a binary counting system: On or off equals one or zero. The time required to solve difficult problems has been getting shorter, as computer engineers find out how to make their on / off switches smaller, doubling the computing power contained in the same-sized box each year. Now imagine the day they are working on atom-sized switches.

But that is also the point at which they will hit a barrier, because subatomic particles behave according to the strange rules of quantum mechanics. A single particle can be in two places at a time. It can instantly affect another particle a light-years away. And you can travel through isolation, making it difficult to find when you need it.

This unpredictable behavior makes particles such as photons and electrons difficult to control, but also gives them a kind of superpower. Instead of bits, a quantum computer uses qubits, which can be either on or off at the same time. A conventional processor does one calculation at a time. A quantum processor with a qubit can do two calculations at a time. A two-bit processor can do four, and so on. A 70-bit processor would be more powerful than the most powerful supercomputer ever built, and a 100-bit processor would be more powerful than a conventional computer the size of the universe.

Why does this matter? On a large scale, quantum computers could make quantum mechanics more intuitive, perhaps triggering a shift in human understanding similar to the discovery that the Earth orbits the Sun. More practically, they could solve complex problems involving interactions of multiple variables, allowing them , Say, dramatically accelerate pattern recognition essential for artificial intelligence. They could also model how molecules interact to create new drugs - or they could develop a fertilizer that sucks greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

That last example easily comes to Rigetti, who operated a tractor when he was a teenager. But if they had asked their teachers if they thought they were likely to innovate in the field of agriculture, let alone climate change, the answer might have been a non-collective one. "It probably stood out as a little argumentative," says his mother. "I appreciate the fact that I was curious and challenged the teachers.

That same combination of combativeness and curiosity drove Rigetti to where he is today. Instead of academics, Rigetti went to sports, attracting the attention of the wrestling trainer of the University of Regina. Once there, however, a broken ligament stopped his athletic career - and curiosity took over.