must be created in order to make sense of these absurdities, and the theory of quantum mechanics was born. Quantum mechanics was formulated by Schrödinger using wave mechanics and Heisenberg using matrix mechanics. The equivalence of these methods was proven later. Their formulations described the dynamics of microscopic systems but had several unsatisfactory aspects in describing measurement processes. Von Neumann formulated quantum theory using operator algebra in a way that it described measurement as well as dynamics. These studies emphasized the philosophical aspects of measurement rather than a quantitative approach to extracting information via measurements. See: Dynamical Pictures Development from communication In 1960s, Stratonovich, Helstrom and Gordon proposed a formulation of optical communications using quantum mechanics. This was the first historical appearance of quantum information theory. They mainly studied error probabilities and channel capacities for communication. Later, Alexander Holevo obtained an upper bound of communication speed in the transmission of a classical message via a quantum channel. Development from atomic physics and relativity In the 1970s, techniques for manipulating single-atom quantum states, such as the atom trap and the scanning tunneling microscope, began to be developed, making it possible to isolate single atoms and arrange them in arrays. Prior to these developments, precise control over single quantum systems was not possible, and experiments utilized coarser, simultaneous control over a large number of quantum systems. The development of viable single-state manipulation techniques led to increased interest in the field of quantum information and computation. In the 1980s, interest arose in whether it might be possible to use quantum effects to disprove Einstein's theory of relativity. If it were possible to clone an unknown quantum state, it would be possible to use entangled quantum states to transmit information faster than the speed of light, disproving Einstein's theory. However, the no-cloning theorem showed that such cloning is impossible. The theorem was one of the earliest results of quantum information theory. Development from cryptography Despite all the excitement and interest over studying isolated quantum systems and trying to find a way to circumvent the theory of relativity, research in quantum information theory became stagnant in the 1980s. However, around the same time another avenue started dabbling into quantum information and computation: Cryptography. In a general sense, cryptography is the problem of doing communication or computation involving two or more parties who may not trust one another. Bennett and Brassard developed a communication channel on