Scientists John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis were awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for their groundbreaking discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantization in an electric circuit, as confirmed by the Nobel committee on Tuesday. This achievement is expected to propel the advancement of quantum technology, paving the way for innovations in quantum cryptography, quantum computing, and quantum sensors, according to a statement released alongside the announcement from Stockholm.
John Clarke conducted his research at the University of California-Berkeley, while John Martinis worked at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Michel Devoret, on the other hand, conducted his research at Yale University and the University of California-Santa Barbara. Notably, both Devoret and Martinis have been associated with Google Quantum A.I. in recent years.
Expressing his astonishment, Clarke mentioned that receiving the prestigious award was an unexpected honor. He praised his collaborators Devoret and Martinis as brilliant individuals whose contributions were exceptionally impactful.
The Nobel Prize in Physics, along with accolades in other fields like chemistry, literature, and peace, carries a prize amount of 11 million Swedish crowns (approximately $1.6 million Cdn). The physics award ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, followed by the literature prize on Thursday and the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. The economics prize winner will be announced on October 13.
The Nobel Prizes are traditionally presented to the laureates on December 10, commemorating the death anniversary of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. Since 1901, a total of 229 laureates have been honored with the physics prize. In the previous year, British-Canadian scientist Geoffrey Hinton from the University of Toronto and American scientist John Hopfield from Princeton University received the 2024 physics prize for their groundbreaking work enabling machine learning in artificial neural networks.
