  We present a quantum error correction code which protects a qubit of
information against general one qubit errors which maybe caused by the
interaction with the environment. To accomplish this, we encode the original
state by distributing quantum information over five qubits, the minimal number
required for this task. We give a simple circuit which takes the initial state
with four extra qubits in the state |0> to the encoded state. The circuit can
be converted into a decoding one by simply running it backward. Reading the
extra four qubits at the decoder's output we learn which one of the sixteen
alternatives (no error plus all fifteen possible 1-bit errors) was realized.
The original state of the encoded qubit can then be restored by a simple
unitary transformation.
