Newly developed computer technologies in history have been the beginning of processes that change the flow of human history and reshape our lives. Today, the technology to restart this process is quantum computers.
The first known multipurpose programmable computer was designed by Charles Babbage in the 19th century. This machine, called an analytical engine, was not an electronic device, but a fully mechanical machine and had the power to calculate every computable function in theory.
Mechanical analog computers designed based on Babbage’s design were used in the computations that are required for operation of military weapons systems in the world wars and in the analysis of encrypted messages. Later developed electronic computers made possible an efficiency that would allow calculations that would not be possible with analog computers. ENIAC, the first electronic computer in history, weighed 30 tons and covered an area of 167 m2.
Since its inception, digital computers have been touching every aspect of our lives, and this digital transformation is not complete yet. Although they are small enough to fit in our pocket and even have the power to calculate the weather, the digital computers we use today have some limits due to their working principles.
The quantum computers developed today will be able to overcome these limits very soon by taking advantage of some of the flexibility provided by quantum physics. Unlike conventional digital computers, quantum computers, which can work with qubits that are created by the super-position principle and can be found in more than one state at the same time can resolve once considered unbreakable encryptions.
This situation will lead to the necessity of designing the encryption methods we use in internet services, e-mail services and internet shopping, and it will push us to change the secure communication systems we are used to. But quantum computers can accommodate another technology that can solve this problem. Quantum computers using the principle of quantum entanglement will be able to communicate securely with each other over long distances.
Quantum-level simulations that are not possible with today’s computers will be possible in the future thanks to quantum computers, so it will be possible to study proteins at the molecular level. This technology enables quantum modeling to help solve diseases that we do not know how to treat and to shed light on the problems that physics cannot solve today. Currently limited test applications, quantum computers developed by universities and start-ups, will soon enter our lives and start a process similar to the transformation of digital computers in history.
In this context, following the quantum computer technology which is the next turning point of digital transformation and being involved in the development of technology will pave the way for our country to be the pioneer in the next digital transformation.
