[blahblahblah]

Assuming that it was an interview for an electrical engineering position, the Intel question "Explain quantum electrodynamics in two minutes, starting now" doesn't seem at all ridiculous. If you don't understand the topic well enough to give a brief overview of the concepts, you're not qualified to work an engineering job in the semiconductor industry.

[hugh3]

Quantum electrodynamics? Really? OK, give me your two-minute explanation starting now.

[blahblahblah]

I didn't say that I was qualified to work an electrical engineering job at Intel. (I'm not.) However, I know enough (from watching Feynman's University of Auckland lectures - see http://vega.org.uk/video/subseries/8) to understand that QED theory is absolutely fundamental to Intel's business, both in chip design and in manufacturing processes.

[hugh3]

Are you sure you're not getting quantum electrodynamics confused with quantum mechanics? Because QED barely matters in semiconductors at all. Pretty much anything you could possibly care about in semiconductors can be done with the plain ol' Schroedinger equation.