The Race: How to Build a Quantum Computer (2019)

A computing revolution is coming and Leo Kouwenhoven might be the man to start it. Discoverer of a fundamental but elusive ingredient for quantum computing, Kouwenhoven is close to inaugurating a new era of information technology. But the competition is hot on his tail. 

This documentary takes a historical perspective on research on quantum computing, associated with a research group in the Netherlands. The focus of the documentary is the principal investigator. He published a seminal research article, somewhat after 2010, that seemed to open the door to a certain avenue in building a quantum computer. This led to an intensive period of research in his lab to demonstrate feasibility.

The documentary focuses on the people and their interactions. It provides some interesting, somewhat superficial, peaks into the motivations and the viewpoints of scientists, politicians and business people. It also provides a very, very tiny peak into understanding what quantum computing is about. There is a somewhat biased attitude toward quantum mechanics.

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