Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to three scientists for macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling

Scientists John Clarke, Michel H Devoret and John M Martinis on Tuesday won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.

“This year’s Nobel Prize laureates conducted experiments with an electrical circuit in which they demonstrated both quantum mechanical tunnelling and quantised energy levels in a system big enough to be held in the hand,” said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in a press release.

The academy awards the Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry

The experiments conducted by Clarke, Devoret and Martinis on a “chip revealed quantum physics in action”, the press release said.

With their work, the three physicists have provided opportunities to develop “the next generation of quantum technology, including quantum cryptography, quantum computers, and quantum sensors”, it added.

Olle Eriksson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said that it was wonderful to be able to celebrate the way that century-old quantum mechanics continually offers new surprises. “It is also enormously useful, as quantum mechanics is the foundation of all digital technology,” he said.

While Clarke is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley in the United States, Martinis teaches at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Devoret is a professor at Yale University and...

Read more