Let's dive into the fascinating world of quantum computers and how they're set to revolutionize technology and society. In 2019-2020, Google and a Chinese research institute made a groundbreaking announcement. They had achieved "quantum supremacy", which means their quantum computers could outperform even the fastest supercomputers for certain tasks. This marked the beginning of the quantum computing era, which has the potential to completely transform computing and many aspects of our lives.

Quantum computers aren't just faster than traditional computers, they operate in a fundamentally different way. They use something called qubits, which can represent multiple states at the same time thanks to quantum phenomena like superposition and entanglement. This allows them to perform calculations at an exponentially faster rate than classical computers. This emerging field is attracting billions in investment from leading tech companies and governments, and it could disrupt everything from cybersecurity to medicine.

To understand quantum computers, we need to understand the principles of quantum mechanics. This field of physics was developed in the early 20th century by luminaries like Planck, Einstein, Schrodinger, Bohr and Heisenberg. The concept of quantum computing was then proposed by Feynman, formalized by Deutsch, and given a practical application by Peter Shor, who demonstrated that these computers could break widely-used encryption. This revelation sent shockwaves through governments around the world.

The race is now on to build practical quantum computers. Big tech firms like Google, Microsoft, IBM are competing with startups to create these machines, which can take different physical forms. Each design, whether it's superconducting, ion trap, photonic, or topological, has its own strengths and weaknesses. The aim is to increase the number of qubits, extend the coherence times, and reduce errors to create a fault-tolerant quantum computer. The first to succeed in this endeavor could shape the future of technology.

Quantum supremacy has been achieved on a small scale, but there are still major challenges to overcome before we see commercially viable quantum computers. It's still early days, but the quantum era that visionaries like Feynman foresaw may be closer than we think. This is an exciting time in the development of a technology that has the potential to transform the world as we know it.