pyrophorus

You could potentially design a better catalyst for the Haber process. For example, a catalyst that could work at room temperature instead could reduce energy usage compared to the current high temperature process. We suspect such a catalyst should be possible, because bacterial nitrogenases can do this (but they have other issues that make them unsuitable for industry).

Problem is, simulating catalysts is hard, and testing then in the lab is time consuming and expensive. To simulate large, complex catalysts like solid materials on current computers you need to make some simplifying assumptions that can reduce the accuracy of the simulations. A quantum computer could make this process much more efficient, and potentially enable exact or close to exact solutions.

What do you think these developments will mean for the careers and role of doctors in affected areas? Do you see these technologies replacing doctors, or freeing them up for other tasks?