Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Instead of ‘supremacy’ use ‘quantum advantage’

  1. Carmen Palacios-Berraquero

    1. Nu Quantum, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Leonie Mueck

    1. Riverlane, Cambridge, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  3. Divya M. Persaud

    1. University College London, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

We take issue with the use of ‘supremacy’ when referring to quantum computers that can out-calculate even the fastest supercomputers (F. Arute et al. Nature 574, 505–510; 2019). We consider it irresponsible to override the historical context of this descriptor, which risks sustaining divisions in race, gender and class. We call for the community to use ‘quantum advantage’ instead.

Access options

Nature 576, 213 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03781-0

Supported by 13 signatories (see Supplementary information for full list).

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 17 December 2019: The headline of this Correspondence has been changed to better reflect the message of the letter.

Supplementary Information

  1. Co-signatories to this Correspondence

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links