History of Quantum Computing - A Timeline

In 1959, Richard Feynman states the possibility of using quantum effects for computation

In 1981 Feynman urged the world to build a quantum computer. "Nature isn't classical...and if you want to make a simulation of nature, you'd better make it quantum mechanical…”

In 1993, an international group of six scientists, showed that perfect quantum teleportation is possible

In 1994, Peter Shor discovered a quantum algorithm, which allows a quantum computer to factor large integers exponentially much faster than the best known classical algorithm. Shor's can theoretically break many of the Public-key cryptography systems in use today

In 2009, Yale created first solid-state quantum processor, a 2-qubit superconducting chip

In 2011, scientists from Australia and Japan made a breakthrough in quantum teleportation, successfully transferring quantum data with full transmission integrity

In 2011, D-Wave announced first commercial quantum annealer

In November 2012, the first quantum teleportation from one macroscopic object to another was reported by scientists at the University of Science and Technology of China

In May 2013, Google announced that it was launching the Quantum AI Lab

In 2014, Edward Snowden showed the NSA is running a $79.7 million research program titled "Penetrating Hard Targets", to develop a quantum computer capable of breaking vulnerable encryption

In 2015, NASA publicly displayed the world's first fully operational quantum computer, D-Wave Systems

In May 2016, IBM Research announced that for the first time ever it is making quantum computing available to members of the public via the cloud

In March 2017, IBM announced an industry-first initiative, called IBM Q, to build commercially available universal quantum computing systems

In October 2017, IBM Research scientists successfully "broke the 49-qubit simulation barrier"

In late 2017 and early 2018, IBM, Intel, and Google each reported testing quantum processors containing 50, 49, and 72 qubits

In June 2018, Intel began testing a silicon-based spin-qubit processor

In December 2018, IonQ reported that its machine could be built as large as 160 qubits

In October 2019, Google announced it had achieved quantum supremacy - marking a huge milestone in the advancement of practical quantum computing