The last lecture course that Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman gave to students at Caltech was not on physics but on computer science. The course in 1983 was an overview of standard and not-so-standard topics in computer science, all given in Feynman’s inimitable style. This talk will begin by giving an overview of Feynman’s long-time interest in computing - starting with his time at Los Alamos during the war through to his suggestion of simulating physics on a quantum computer at a ‘Physics of Computation Conference at MIT in 1981 and his acting as a consultant for the parallel computer company, Thinking Machines. The talk will conclude with a summary of Feynman’s long-term interest in the physical limits to computation and the exemplary way he could communicate complex ideas to all types of audience.
The last lecture course that Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman gave to students at Caltech was not on physics but on computer science. The course in 1983 was an overview of standard and not-so-standard topics in computer science, all given in Feynman’s inimitable style. This talk will begin by giving an overview of Feynman’s long-time interest in computing - starting with his time at Los Alamos during the war through to his suggestion of simulating physics on a quantum computer at a ‘Physics of Computation Conference at MIT in 1981 and his acting as a consultant for the parallel computer company, Thinking Machines. The talk will conclude with a summary of Feynman’s long-term interest in the physical limits to computation and the exemplary way he could communicate complex ideas to all types of audience.
When, in 1984–86, Richard P. Feynman gave his famous course on computation at the California Institute of Technology, he asked Tony Hey to adapt his lecture notes into a book. Although led by Feynman, the course also featured, as occasional guest speakers, some of the most brilliant men in science at that time, including Marvin Minsky, Charles Bennett, and John Hopfield. Although the lectures are now thirteen years old, most of the material is timeless and presents a “Feynmanesque” overview of many standard and some not-so-standard topics in computer science such as reversible logic gates and quantum computers.
When, in 1984?86, Richard P. Feynman gave his famous course on computation at the California Institute of Technology, he asked Tony Hey to adapt his lecture notes into a book. Although led by Feynman, the course also featured, as occasional guest speakers, some of the most brilliant men in science at that time, including Marvin Minsky, Charles Bennett, and John Hopfield. Although the lectures are now thirteen years old, most of the material is timeless and presents a ?Feynmanesque? overview of many standard and some not-so-standard topics in computer science such as reversible logic gates and quantum computers.
There were few basic aspects of computers and computation which intrigued Richard P. Feynman, and made the subject sufficiently interesting that he would spend time teaching it. Feynman himself did the lecture on quantum computation. Charles Bennett has already prepared the way by talking about reversible computation, and Norman Margolus on the billiard ball computer, so Feynman developed quantum computation in ways which made its connection to classical reversible computers obvious. His lecture was chiefly developing the idea that an entirely reversible quantum system, without damping processes, could perform universal computation. The insight that quantum computers were really different came only later, and to others, not to Feynman. Feynman only emphasized that the physical scale and speed of computers were not limited by the classical world, since conceptually they could be built of reversible components at the atomic level.
Richard P. Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner in physics, was a physicist thought leader in the areas of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. In 1982, he published a research paper with the title “Simulating Physics with Computers”. In this paper, he asks the question if a quantum computer could be built (which he believed to be the case) or if classical computers can simulate the probabilistic behavior of a true quantum system (which he answered with a clear no). This research paper sparked interest in the scientific research community, which started to seriously explore whether or not a quantum computer can actually be built.
Los Alamos Laboratory was celebrating its fortieth anniversary on April 14, 1983. Physics Laureate Richard P. Feynman stated in a lecture titled “Tiny Computers Obeying Quantum-Mechanical Laws” that computing based on classical logic could not easily and efficiently process calculations describing quantum phenomena. He offered his vision of computing that could operate in a quantum manner. Prior to making these historical comments, Feynman had always been a champion of thoughts leading toward computers leveraging laws of quantum mechanics when he stated, “There’s plenty of room at the bottom” and, “Nature isn’t classical. If you want to make a simulation of nature, you’d better make it quantum mechanical,” which means to properly simulate quantum systems, you must use a quantum computer.
As big strides were being made in many science fields in the 1970s and 80s, faster computation for solving problems in molecular biology, semiconductor technology, aeronautics, particle physics, etc., was at the forefront of research. Parallel and super-computers were introduced, which enabled problems of a higher level of complexity to be solved. At about the same time, Nobel-laureate physicist Richard Feynman launched what seemed at the time a wild idea; to build a computer based on quantum physics concepts such as superposition and entanglement [1]. The outrageousness of his ideas is documented in the book “Surely, You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman” [2].