Book Image

Quantum Computing and Blockchain in Business

By : Arunkumar Krishnakumar
Book Image

Quantum Computing and Blockchain in Business

By: Arunkumar Krishnakumar

Overview of this book

Are quantum computing and Blockchain on a collision course or will they be the most important trends of this decade to disrupt industries and life as we know it? Fintech veteran and venture capitalist Arunkumar Krishnakumar cuts through the hype to bring us a first-hand look into how quantum computing and Blockchain together are redefining industries, including fintech, healthcare, and research. Through a series of interviews with domain experts, he also explores these technologies’ potential to transform national and global governance and policies – from how elections are conducted and how smart cities can be designed and optimized for the environment, to what cyberwarfare enabled by quantum cryptography might look like. In doing so, he also highlights challenges that these technologies have to overcome to go mainstream. Quantum Computing and Blockchain in Business explores the potential changes that quantum computing and Blockchain might bring about in the real world. After expanding on the key concepts and techniques, such as applied cryptography, qubits, and digital annealing, that underpin quantum computing and Blockchain, the book dives into how major industries will be impacted by these technologies. Lastly, we consider how the two technologies may come together in a complimentary way.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
5
Interview with Dr. Dave Snelling, Fujitsu Fellow
7
Interview with Dr. B. Rajathilagam, Head of AI Research, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
9
Interview with Max Henderson, Senior Data Scientist, Rigetti and QxBranch
11
Interview with Sam McArdle, Quantum Computing Researcher at the University of Oxford
14
Interview with Dinesh Nagarajan, Partner, IBM
18
Other Books You May Enjoy
19
Index

Nitrogen fixation

Chemicals are everywhere. From the water we drink to the cells that make up our body, the fertilizers that are used for agriculture, the drivers of photosynthesis in plants – all these are based on chemicals. Understanding the behaviour of chemicals during a reaction is essential to predict the results of the reaction.

Let's take the example of fertilizers. Fertilizers are used in agriculture to increase crop yields. In the initial days, farmers were using natural manure such as animal faeces to improve crop production. It was in 1914 that the first synthetic fertilizers were used, and since then the industry has grown so much that, today, it accounts for 1.2% of global energy consumption.

Fertilizers are largely categorized across three nutrients: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. Nitrogen is the most important of all the nutrients. However, Nitrogen is fed to crops in the form of Ammonia (NH3). The process of converting atmospheric...