
The idea of quantum computing was put forward in the 1980s: Richard Feynman realized that quantum systems are hard to simulate on classical computers, and David Deutsch built the first model of a universal quantum machine.
A qubit is, for example, an atom that can be excited by a laser. The laser puts it into a superposition state (a mixture of unexcited and excited). Two atoms are entangled through interaction. Then a system of many qubits evolves according to the algorithm, and at the end a measurement yields the answer. Importantly, the computation process itself is a careful manipulation of quantum interference, like tuning a musical instrument.