What & Why Quantum Computing?

Update: 2021-09-23

Description

In this episode, Frank and Andy welcome our first guest to the show.

Dr Mark Jackson is a Quantum Evangelist at Cambridge Quantum Computing, which may just be the best job title I have ever heard.

This episode is entitled "What and Why Quantum Computing?" and is rated one and a half Schroedingers. It could be 2 Schroedingers or just one. You will have to observe the entire episode to collapse the wave function.

Links

Cambridge Quantum Computing

https://cambridgequantum.com/

Transcript

00:00:00 BAILey

Hello and welcome to impact quantum.

00:00:02 BAILey

A podcast about quantum computing for developers and engineers.

00:00:06 BAILey

In this episode, Frank and Andy welcome our first guest to the show.

00:00:11 BAILey

Doctor Mark Jackson is a quantum evangelist at Cambridge Quantum Computing, which may just be the best job title I have ever heard.

00:00:19 BAILey

This episode is entitled what and why Quantum Computing and is rated 1 1/2 Schrodinger's.

00:00:26 BAILey

It could be.

00:00:27 BAILey

Two Schrodinger's or just one.

00:00:29 BAILey

You will have to observe the entire episode to collapse the wavefunction.

00:00:33 BAILey

Now on.

00:00:34 BAILey

With the show.

00:00:36 BAILey

But first, here's some dubstep.

00:00:47 Frank

Hello and welcome to impact quantum.

00:00:51 Frank

The podcast where we.

00:00:52 Frank

Explore this new.

00:00:53 Frank

Field of quantum computing from an engineer's perspective. Maybe you're a software engineer. Maybe you're a data engineer.

00:00:59 Frank

But you keep hearing about this thing called quantum computing, which is going to change everything.

00:01:04 Frank

And I happen to believe that it will change everything, and to that end I.

00:01:07 Frank

Hey I have my trusty co-host from data driven.

00:01:11 Frank

With me Andy Leonard.

00:01:12 Andy

Hey Frank, thanks for for bringing me along as folks will quickly learn, you know way more about quantum computing.

00:01:20 Andy

Than I do.

00:01:21 Andy

So I guess I'm just here for my pretty faves.

00:01:24 Frank

Of course, of course we are.

00:01:25 Frank

Actually recording this in video on teams, but come with me with us for the first time in impact quantum history.

00:01:33 Frank

We have a guest and it's Doctor Mark Jackson.

00:01:36 Frank

Uh, who has probably the coolest job title I have heard in about a decade or two?

00:01:43 Frank

Welcome to the show.

00:01:43 Frank

Mark, you're our first guest ever.

00:01:45 Dr. Mark Jackson

Thank you Frank.

00:01:46 Dr. Mark Jackson

Thank you Andy.

00:01:47 Dr. Mark Jackson

It's great to be here.

00:01:49 Frank

Uh, so as Andy said, you know, I do.

00:01:52 Frank

When I you know I would use the term knows more as a very relative term part of the if you're listening to the show and you've listened to the archives.

00:02:01 Frank

Part of the reason why we haven't had a lot of shows is because I really kind of hit my cerebral limit at the time to talk about so.

00:02:09 Frank

Given that quantum is still a relatively new field and there's a shortage of experts in the field, but I think you know we were.

00:02:17 Frank

I was blessed to get in contact with Mark where we can talk about kind of this with an expert because he's a quantum evangelist.

00:02:27 Dr. Mark Jackson

Yes, it's a.

00:02:28 Dr. Mark Jackson

It's a pleasure to be here and I am Cambridge, quantum quantum evangelist.

00:02:33 Dr. Mark Jackson

I'm glad you like my title.

00:02:34 Dr. Mark Jackson

It's it's pretty unique.

00:02:36 Frank

That is very cool.

00:02:37 Frank

Uhm so So what?

00:02:39 Frank

You know, what does a First off?

00:02:41 Frank

How did you get into quantum?

00:02:43 Frank

What's your background?

00:02:44 Frank

Is your background in quantum physics?

00:02:46 Frank

Or computing or.

00:02:46 Dr. Mark Jackson

My background is in yes, so my background is actually in superstring theory, if you're.

00:02:51 Dr. Mark Jackson

Familiar with that?

00:02:53 Dr. Mark Jackson

Yeah, for 15 years I did that.

00:02:54 Dr. Mark Jackson

I earned my pH.

00:02:56 Dr. Mark Jackson

In string theory from Columbia University under the supervision of Brian Greene, who you might recognize.

00:03:02 Dr. Mark Jackson

And then I did it.

00:03:02 Frank

In fact, he's the one.

00:03:03 Frank

Who's documentaries on string theory I I do enjoy?

00:03:07 Dr. Mark Jackson

Yes, I I'm actually in that, uh, I have a very brief cameo.

00:03:10 Dr. Mark Jackson

I was a student and and half my face is in it for.

00:03:13 Dr. Mark Jackson

Half a second.

00:03:14 Dr. Mark Jackson

Oh, very cool, very cool.

00:03:16 Frank

That's awesome, you're real selected.

00:03:18 Dr. Mark Jackson

So, uh, so, so yes, that was my moment of fame.

00:03:21 Dr. Mark Jackson

Uh, back when I was a grad student and so then I I did research in that area for about 10 years and I briefly did a tech startup doing scientific fund raising before I returned to teaching at Singularity.

00:03:32 Dr. Mark Jackson

University and that was where I first started hearing about quantum computing. This would be around 2016.

00:03:40 Dr. Mark Jackson

Uh so so. Quantum computing only existed academically when I was a student, and so I rarely heard anything at all about it and it was in 2016 people started talking about quantum computing, being commercially feasible, and I thought this was amazing because it was all the things that I I loved about physics.

00:03:59 Dr. Mark Jackson

Superposition and entanglement and all these crazy physics concepts.

00:04:03 Dr. Mark Jackson

Uhm they they started saying they could actually build machines and do this for you.

00:04:08 Dr. Mark Jackson

Whole things, and I thought that was amazing.

00:04:10 Dr. Mark Jackson

And so I started trying to get into the field.

00:04:13 Dr. Mark Jackson

I was giving presentations about quantum computing to executives, but I felt sort of like a cheerleader on the sides.

00:04:20 Dr. Mark Jackson

I actually wanted to be doing it, not just talking about it, and so I tried to get into.

00:04:24 Dr. Mark Jackson

The field.

00:04:25 Dr. Mark Jackson

And it was a bit frustrating because I didn't.

00:04:28 Dr. Mark Jackson

Have a background in quantum computing and I didn't know too many people in it, but I was very lucky that a friend of mine, a math professor at Berkeley where I was living.

00:04:37 Dr. Mark Jackson

He made an introduction to our CEO.

00:04:40 Dr. Mark Jackson

Ilyas Khan and it was very well timed because Cambridge Quantum was about three years old and everyone at the time was in the UK.

00:04:51 Dr. Mark Jackson

As the name might suggest, were basically virgins like.

00:04:53 Frank

Yeah, wasn't shared with Cambridge, England or Cambridge.

00:04:55 Frank

Massachusetts 'cause it could go either way.

00:04:58 Dr. Mark Jackson

Yeah, it's it's actually the old school, Cambridge, our company Origin story is is quite amazing. Ileus was chairman of the Stephen Hawking Foundation and in in 2014 Hawking told him I think quantum computing is going to take off. You should get into this business and so that's how we started because of Stephen Hawking.

00:05:18 Frank

That's amazing.

00:05:19 Dr. Mark Jackson

And so yeah, we we have one of the coolest origin.

00:05:22 Dr. Mark Jackson

Stories ever and so in fall of 2017 I I joined as one of the first American members of the team.

00:05:31 Dr. Mark Jackson

And so I've been there about four years, and it's been an amazing journey.

00:05:35 Dr. Mark Jackson

I I can't think of any other technology that's.

00:05:38 Dr. Mark Jackson

Advanced this rapidly.

00:05:41 Frank

I I will.

00:05:41 Frank

Say it's just even in the last, maybe 8 to 10 months.

00:05:46 Frank

The pace of innovation has gone through the roof like you start hearing these news and you know whenever I would look on YouTube for you know recent videos and you filter by like you know you'd have to look for like oh in the recent month for quantum anything about quantum computing.

00:06:01 Frank

Now it's the point where something new gets published every couple hours like.

00:06:05 Frank

It's it's it's.

00:06:06 Frank

It's just exploded.

00:06:08 Dr. Mark Jackson

Yeah, it's it's almost every week we some we see some new major announcement about a.

00:06:14 Dr. Mark Jackson

There's a new commercial project.

00:06:15 Dr. Mark Jackson

There's a new company being founded.