Faculty Forum

Quantum Mechanics: What is it good for?

Dr Michael Goggin

Quantum mechanics is notorious for being weird and non-intuitive. It is perhaps surprising then that it is also a powerful tool. A quantum computer has the potential to solve problems that are beyond the capability of any classical computer that could be built. Quantum cryptography is a method for encoding messages in such a way that is, in principle, unbreakable. Both of these techno- logical advances take advantage of the “weirdness” of quantum phenomena.