The Age of Entanglement: Ten Years Later

“Spooky action at a distance!” was Einstein’s reaction to his discovery that the foundational equations of quantum theory allowed for two objects to act as if they were still connected, no matter how far apart they were separated. Schrödinger, in a conversation with Einstein (during which they together came up with the famous “Schrödinger’s cat”), christened this mysterious phenomenon “entanglement.” Dismissed for much of the 20th century as a philosophical quibble, it took a series of discoveries of possible uses for these “spooky” correlations––in quantum cryptography and quantum computation––to bring broad attention to entanglement.

In her book The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics Was Reborn, author Louisa Gilder tells the exciting story of how the concept of quantum entanglement was developed and explored. When it was published ten years ago, her book was praised (by Science, Nature, The Chicago Tribune, and, a year later, as one of the 5 best science books of 2009 by The New York Times) for its dramatic presentation of this theme in the history of physics and for its accessibility to general audiences.

Complementing Louisa’s historical account, Chad Rigetti, Founder and CEO of Rigetti Computing, will provide his perspective on entanglement and the status of quantum computing today. Rigetti Computing’s flagship product, Forest, is the world’s first full-stack programming and execution environment for quantum/classical computing. In addition to software, the company designs and manufactures its own quantum integrated circuits.

The Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science (Physics Interest), in partnership with Milkweed Books, is pleased to welcome Louisa Gilder to the Twin Cities to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the publication of her book. Join us for a conversation on the subject of quantum entanglement. Louisa will be available afterwards to sign copies of her book, available for purchase from Milkweed Books. LEARN MORE. BUY TICKETS.

LOUISA GILDER was born in Tyringham, Massachusetts, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 2000. The Age of Entanglement is her first book.