About Quantum Timeline
Quantum Timeline tells the story of quantum computing, from Richard Feynman's 1981 idea to today, and keeps track of every promise about what comes next. It is updated daily and every entry links to its sources.
What we mean by Quantum Supremacy
On Quantum Timeline, Quantum Supremacy is the point where quantum computers stop being lab experiments and become powerful, practical tools that are widely used for important real-world work. Not to be confused with the 2019 lab demonstration of the same name.
The faded part of the timeline shows when the main companies, governments and experts expect that point to arrive, based on their own public predictions.
What gets in
A milestone enters when it changed what quantum computers can do, what we know about them or how much is invested in them: key papers, hardware records, demonstrations, large funding rounds, public programmes and standards. A prediction enters when a company, government or recognised expert commits to something concrete with a date.
Entries have three levels of importance. Top shows only the landmark moments, Key adds the news that matters beyond the field, and All shows everything we track, including technical progress for people who follow the field closely.
How every entry is checked
- Each entry is backed by sources: the original paper, announcement or government document whenever possible, and reputable independent coverage.
- Every source is stored with a short literal quote. A program fetches the original page and checks that the quote is really there. If it is not, the entry is not published.
- Paper identifiers (DOI and arXiv) are checked against the official registries.
- Landmark entries need at least two sources.
- When in doubt, an entry stays out. Nothing is published just because it is new.
What the labels mean
- Confirmed
- Peer-reviewed, independently verified or simply beyond doubt.
- Claimed
- Announced by its authors and not yet independently checked.
- Disputed
- Experts or published work question it with arguments, which we link.
- Refuted
- Shown to be wrong, or retracted.
- Pending
- The deadline has not arrived yet.
- Overdue
- The deadline passed and we have no evidence it was met.
- Delayed
- Its authors moved the deadline. We keep the original one.
- Delivered
- It happened as promised, on time.
- Partly delivered
- Part of it happened, or it happened late or short of the target.
- Missed
- The deadline passed and it did not happen.
- Withdrawn
- Its authors dropped it.
Corrections
If you spot an error, a missing source or something we should add, write to hello@quantumtimeline.org. Every report is reviewed, and when it is right the entry is corrected.