The Coming Quantum Boom: A Century After Quantum Mechanics Was Described, a Vibrant Industry Blooms

Why build an industry around a scale that cuts across established verticals? This question occurred to me on a long flight to Paris, to attend the opening ceremony of the 2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, at UNESCO headquarters last month. I was part of an IEEE delegation led by 2025 IEEE President Kathleen Kramer. The event celebrated the 100th anniversary of several seminal quantum-science publications including Wolfgang Pauli's paper on his exclusion principle and Werner Heisenberg's “Quantum-Theoretical Re-interpretation of Kinematic and Mechanical Relations.”