Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: Computing with Quantum Cats 1
Part 1 Computing
1 Turing and the Machine 9
A Child of Empire
Sherborne
Cambridge … and Princeton
Bletchley and the Bombe
The Flowering of Colossus
Anticlimax: After Bletchley
2 Von Neumann and the Machines 53
Jancsi
Johnny and the Institute
Johnny and the Bomb
The American Heritage
A German Diversion
The Second Strand
ENIAC
Von Neumann Picks Up the Ball
Self-Replicating Robots
First Interlude: Classical Limits 90
Part 2 Quanta
3 Feynman and the Quantum 99
MIT
From Princeton to Los Alamos
Schrödinger and His Equation
The Experiment with Two Holes
Integrating History
A PhD with a Principle
Cats Don't Collapse
The Gateway to Quantum Computation
Fredkin, Feynman and Friends
4 Bell and the Tangled Web 135
Dropping the Pilot
Von Neumann Gets It Wrong
Spooky Action at a Distance
Bohm Does the Impossible
From Belfast to Bohm, and Beyond
Von Neumann's Silly Mistake and Bell's Inequality
First Fruits
Closing the Loophole
Second Interlude: Quantum Limits 176
Part 3 Computing with Quanta
5 Deutsch and the Multiverse 183
Everett Sets the Scene
Solving the Measurement Problem
The Worlds of Deutsch
A Measure of Universes
The Good: Cracking Codes Conveniently
The Bad: Limits of Quantum Computation
The Ugly: Making It Work
6 Turing's Heirs and the Quantum Machines 226
The Key Criteria
Josephson and the junction
Leggett and the SQUID
Computing with SQUTDs
Corralling with Quantum Dots
The Nuclear Option
The Nuts and Bolts of NMR
Trapped Ions Take a Bow
The Teleportation
Tango
Fun with Photons
Coda: A Quantum of Discord 267
Notes 271
Sources and Further Reading 279
Picture Acknowledgments 283
Index 285