Quantum in the Real World: Advanced Chemistry and Protein Folding

My physics teacher used to say that quantum computers are notoriously bad calculators, and then he’ll quote Richard Feynman to emphasize that these machines were conceived with atomic principles in mind; therefore, they should tackle problems at the atomic scale. Nowhere else is this more tangible than in the fields of chemistry and medicine where quantum is already working hard to make a difference. In this chapter, we showcase two amazing real-life experiments that illustrate how the power of quantum computation can make a difference in the real world.