In 2025, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three outstanding scientists working in the United States: John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Tuesday, October 7, that they were honored for their “breakthrough in quantum technology,” laying the foundation for the development of next-generation digital technologies.
This prestigious recognition is aimed at acknowledging a series of groundbreaking experiments they conducted in the mid-1980s. These experiments demonstrated that quantum mechanical behaviors, originally thought to exist only at extremely small scales (atoms and subatomic particles), could also manifest in macroscopic electronic circuits in daily life. This discovery fundamentally changed the scientific community’s understanding of the boundaries between classical and quantum physics and laid the cornerstone for modern quantum technology.
For a long time, quantum mechanical behaviors such as quantum tunneling and energy quantization were challenging to observe at the visible level to the naked eye. However, these three scientists conducted experiments using electronic circuits composed of superconductors, successfully showcasing these quantum phenomena in a system as small as a chip or even “fitting in the palm of your hand.”
Their key was in using Josephson junctions, devices consisting of two superconductors sandwiching an ultra-thin insulator layer. Through precise measurements, they proved that when a current flows through the circuit, billions of charged particles (Cooper pairs) collectively behave like a single quantum entity and can escape their original state through tunneling, akin to an object passing through a wall.
It is this ability to bring quantum effects from the microscopic to the macroscopic that has enabled the development of practical quantum components, thereby “ushering in a new era of quantum mechanics.”
Professor Clarke, one of the laureates, expressed his complete astonishment upon hearing the news of the award in a phone interview, stating that he “never imagined this research would be the reason for receiving the Nobel Prize.”
He also emphasized the broad applications of this research, saying, “I’m speaking on my phone right now, and I bet you are too, and one of the fundamental reasons why our phones work is all of this (research) work.”
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences pointed out in its statement that this physics breakthrough provides opportunities for developing the next generation of quantum technologies, including:
– Quantum Cryptography: Providing unbreakable secure communication
– Quantum Computing: Solving certain problems hundreds of millions of times faster than existing supercomputers
– Quantum Sensors: For extremely precise measurements
In fact, quantum technology is already ubiquitous in everyday life, with transistors in computer microchips being a common example.
All three awardees have deep connections with top academic institutions in the United States. Clarke, born in the UK, is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley; Devoret, born in France, is a professor at Yale University and the University of California, Santa Barbara; while Martinis, a native American, serves as a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Notably, Devoret and Martinis have had close collaborations with the technology giant Google. Martinis previously led Google’s Quantum Artificial Intelligence lab and in 2019, led a team to announce achieving “Quantum Supremacy,” surpassing the world’s most powerful supercomputer in processing specific tasks using a quantum computer. Devoret is currently Google’s Chief Scientist for Quantum Artificial Intelligence.
The Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, has a total prize money of 11 million Swedish Krona (about 1.2 million USD), shared equally among the laureates.
Physics is the first category mentioned in Alfred Nobel’s will, reflecting its central position in modern science. This award has historically recognized great scientists like Einstein, Madame Curie, and quantum theory pioneer Niels Bohr.
Following tradition, the Physics Prize is the second Nobel Prize being awarded this week. The day before, two American scientists and a Japanese scientist were awarded the Medicine Prize for their breakthroughs in understanding the immune system. The Chemistry Prize will be awarded on Wednesday.