Qiskit is an open source software development kit for building, optimizing, and executing quantum circuits. It supports local simulation and cloud-based execution on quantum processing units available through IBM Quantum Platform.

IBM Quantum develops quantum computing hardware, software, and services for research and industry. Its work spans the full quantum computing stack and includes IBM Quantum Platform, which provides cloud access to quantum systems, learning resources, and development tools for a global community of organizations, researchers, educators, and developers.

With more than 40,000 members, the University of Palermo is one of Italy's largest universities. Founded in 1806 by Ferdinand III of Bourbon, it was authorized to award degrees in theology, medicine, law, and philosophy. The university has since undergone major transformations, becoming a centre for secular education and the home of many notable scientists. Its resilience, including during the period following the Second World War, has enabled it to adapt to changing educational needs while retaining an important role in the intellectual and political life of Sicily and Italy.

The Department has a distinguished scientific legacy. Giuseppe Piazzi (1746–1826), the first director of the Observatory, discovered Ceres, originally classified as an asteroid and now considered a dwarf planet. The physicist Emilio Segrè (1905–1989), after whom the DiFC is named, discovered technetium, element 43, in Via Archirafi. In 1959, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the antiproton. The chemist Stanislao Cannizzaro (1826–1910) achieved international recognition for proposing the Cannizzaro reaction.