The two children had never seen anything quite like it.
“It’s electricity that gives to the whole entire airport!” guessed 8-year-old Ishaan Jain.
“It should spin,” added his sister Siya, 4.
Ishaan and Siya were two of the thousands of travelers walking through Chicago O’Hare International Airport who got an up-close view of the future on Thursday in United Airlines’ Terminal 1 – the golden, sparkling internal electronics of a model quantum computer representing a technology that is poised to change the world.
"Imagine a future in which it’s possible to detect disease in a single cell, before it spreads, and to use a computer to determine the precise drug to treat that disease,” said UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) Prof. Nancy Kawalek, founder and director of the Scientists, Technologists, and Artists Generating Exploration (STAGE) Center. “Imagine a future in which your personal information is secure, and your financial information can't be hacked — a future in which science has advanced to the point where these things, and more, will be possible.”
On Thursday, the STAGE Center and IBM unveiled “Imagining the Future: An Encounter with Quantum Technologies,” a public display model of an IBM Quantum System One quantum computer, and an accompanying website – flyquantum.stage.uchicago.edu – designed by STAGE Center students from the University of Chicago. The exhibit will be on display for a year.
Buoyed by an Innovation Fund grant from the American Physical Society in honor of UNESCO’s International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, with space generously donated by United Airlines, the exhibit symbolizes the Chicago region’s expanding leadership role in quantum education, research and workforce development.
“Quantum computers work in a fundamentally different way than today’s classical machines, opening the door to breakthroughs in areas like drug discovery, energy, and optimization,” said Dr. Hanhee Paik, Director of Quantum Algorithms Centers and Quantum-Centric Supercomputing Partnerships, IBM. “At IBM, we are at the forefront of advancing this technology and its ecosystem, and we’re excited to share a piece of that journey here in Chicago as we enter the era of quantum advantage and push toward fault-tolerant quantum computers.”
Quantum technologies are projected to create up to 191,000 jobs and drive as much as $80 billion in economic impact for the Illinois-Wisconsin-Indiana region by 2035, according to an analysis by Boston Consulting Group for the Chicago Quantum Exchange.
“As Chicago’s hometown airline, United is proud to host this new, captivating exhibit that shines a spotlight on our city’s role as a global hub for quantum computing,” said Omar Idris, United's vice president of O'Hare International Airport. “Bringing this display to O'Hare gives United travelers a unique glimpse into the groundbreaking innovation that's putting Illinois at the forefront of the future.”
O’Hare is one of the world’s busiest airports, processing 80 million passengers in 2024 alone. And United’s Terminal 1 is the busiest terminal in that airport, with United operating more than 500 daily departures to over 200 destinations.
It’s a great center stage for the STAGE Center, a full-scale laboratory embedded within UChicago PME, focused on creating and developing new film, theatre, games, exhibits, and other artistic endeavors inspired by science and technology.
Quantum researcher and recent UChicago graduate Avery Linder was part of the STAGE Center team that designed the accompanying website to walk visitors through a quantum computer’s inner workings and explain this mind-bending, world-changing technology.
“The most exciting part of the project for me was figuring out how to explain quantum in a very accessible, non-scary way,” Linder said. “That’s important not just for the quantum community, but for everyone who could potentially be interested in science and not know that it’s within their grasp.”
Rather than dive headfirst into the complicated mathematics, engineering, and computer science that make up the quantum world, the team explains quantum through metaphors (spinning coins that land the same in Chicago and Paris), comparisons (the temperature inside a quantum computer’s dilution refrigerator versus Antarctica) and other language that will speak to – not speak down to – quantum-curious flyers.
“We spent a lot of time thinking about analogies or examples that people would relate to, steering away from scientific jargon the general public might not be familiar with,” said team member Charlotte Quintanar.
“The most exciting part of the project for me was figuring out how to explain quantum in a very accessible, non-scary way.”
In addition to Linder, team members Rohan Venkat and Reet Santosh Mhaske were on hand for the quantum computer’s unveiling in a central, eye-catching location in the busy terminal. Quintanar and teammate Jeffrey Li were unable to attend their work’s debut.
“This is incredible. I love the way it looks,” Venkat said. “I think this is like a perfect spot to put it.”
Kawalek said the collaborative spirit that built this exhibit is the same spirit that’s building Chicago into a global quantum powerhouse.
“This innovation is part of our regional identity because of the strength we have here in the Chicago area – world-class universities, government labs and industry,” Kawalek said. “Their partnerships are what's driving this part of the country in quantum science and technology.”
“Imagining the Future” will be on display for the next year in United's Terminal 1, Concourse B, near the Field Museum dinosaur, but the STAGE Center's website that accompanies the exhibit, flyquantum.stage.uchicago.edu, will continue to provide an engaging experience for those not flying any time soon.
This article was originally published by the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering.