Around the same time the foundations of computer science were developed by Post, Turing, Church en Gödel. They also shocked the mathematical community since they implied that not all true theorems can be proven and certain problems are not computable.
Quantum computing is the combination of quantum mechanics and computer science, resulting in a fundamentally new computer. This computer can solve certain information and communication problems much faster than its classical counter part. For example Peter Shor from AT&T showed that a quantum computer can quickly factor a big number in its prime factors, something not known to be possible on a classical computer. The very fact that no fast algorithms for this factorization problem are known is the basis of security for many modern cryptographic protocols. Hence a working quantum computer would break at once many cryptographic protocols, like for example RSA.
In my talk I will give an introduction and overview of quantum computing.