Nobel Prize in Physics Shared By Three Scientists for a Breakthrough in Quantum Mechanics

Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 Awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret & John Martinis

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to three scientists: John Clarke of the University of California, Berkeley; Michel Devoret of Yale University; and John Martinis of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Their groundbreaking discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electric circuit received the highest level of appreciation from the scientific community.

Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield were granted the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for introducing new methods of utilizing physics tools, creating a solid foundation for today's machine learning.

About John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis’ Contribution

One of the basic and important questions in physics that remained unanswered for decades is whether the quantum mechanical effects restricted to atoms and particles can emerge in large and tangible systems. During the 1980s, Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis conducted several important experiments to understand this phenomenon.

The Nobel laureates built superconducting circuits with the help of Josephson junctions. The experiment involved separating a superconductor by a very thin layer of insulator and allowing the current to pass through the circuit. The researchers studied how the behavior of the collective charges in the circuit, and to their surprise, the collective charge behaved like a single, macroscopic quantum object instead of isolated particles.

A Quick Glimpse at the History of the Nobel Prize

Alfred Nobel, a Chemist from Sweden, awarded the Nobel Prize to appreciate scientists for their efforts. He mentioned in his will that his assets should be utilized to fund “prizes to those who, during their preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.”

After the death of Alfred Nobel, the Central Bank of Sweden initiated a new prize in Economic Sciences. This prize was established in 1968 on the bank’s 300th anniversary. The bank also donates a significant amount of money to the Nobel Foundation. 

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 has been awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis for their findings in quantum mechanical effects. The experiments conducted by these scientists answer a foundational question on the behaviour of collective charges in a sophisticated chip, marking a great achievement in the field of science.