Scientists first showed teleportation was possible back in 1993, when a team from IBM published a paper about teleporting a quantum state—rather than just an object—in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Five years later, physicists from the California Institute of Technology and the University of Wales in the U.K. put the theory into practice, teleporting a photon (the particle that carries light) through a meter of coaxial cabling, which is a type of transmission line commonly used to connect satellite signals or broadband internet.
Like flying cars and time travel, this ability to instantly move something across physical space is deeply compelling—even if it seems impossible. But scientists are convinced that a breakthrough in quantum computing technology could make teleportation a reality.
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