New University of Waterloo course teaching basics of quantum

This could be a fun party trick: regale your friends with a surprising understanding of quantum mechanics.

After all, it worked for the prime minister.

The University of Waterloo is offering a new course called quantum mechanics for everyone, which will allow any student in any faculty on campus to improve their understanding of quantum, even if they haven't opened a science textbook since high school.

"Here at Waterloo we have front row seats in the quantum revolution," Doreen Fraser, a philosophy professor, said in an interview on the university's website. "It's important for our students to be empowered to participate in public policy debates about developments in science and technology."

Students will 'become conversant' in quantum

Fraser has designed the course to go beyond the 60-second speechPrime Minister Justin Trudeau gaveduring a visit to the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ont., on April 15.

The course will teach students to "become conversant" in the science and social implications of "harnessing the power of quantum mechanics."

Here at Waterloo we have front row seats in the quantum revolution.- Doreen Fraser, philosophy professor at the University of Waterloo

Fraser said it was great Trudeau understood basic information about quantum mechanics and his wildly popular explanation shows it doesn't need to be a topic left to the scientists.

"This is not a subject that only needs to be understood by quantum physicists and can be ignored by everyone else," she said.

Fraser used seed money from Waterloo's Centre for Teaching Excellence to develop resources like videos and online simulations of experiments to help everyone understand quantum mechanics.