Italian Display Case Designer Introduces Discussion on Quantum Computing

(Goppion) Alessandro Goppion, the CEO of Goppion S.p.A., recently introduced a meeting discussing quantum computing that was held at the Italian Embassy in Washington, DC. The Italian company is famous for designing and building display cases for protecting priceless museum features such as the “Mona Lisa” and the display cases for the crown jewels in the Tower of London.
Goppion’s newest project is a display case for the first commercial quantum computer, the IBM Q System One.
The collaboration between the designer and IBM aimed to produce a quantum computer that is both functional and beautiful, according to IBM Senior Manager Bob Wisnieff. “The challenge was to make it beautiful” to show that “we have begun to enter a new world.”
Goppion was one of a world-class team of industrial designers, architects, and manufacturers assembled to IBM to work alongside IBM Research scientists and systems engineers to design IBM Q System One. Together these collaborators designed the first quantum system to consolidate thousands of components into a glass-enclosed, air-tight environment.
The design of IBM Q System One includes a nine-foot-tall, nine-foot-wide case of half-inch thick borosilicate glass forming a sealed, airtight enclosure that opens effortlessly using “roto-translation,” a motor-driven rotation around two displaced axes engineered to simplify the system’s maintenance and upgrade process while minimizing downtime – another innovative trait that makes the IBM Q System One suited to reliable commercial use.