2025 Physics Nobel awarded for work on quantum computing

Daily News Article — Posted on October 8, 2025

(By Georgina Rannard, BBC News) – The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis for their work on quantum mechanics that is paving the way for a new generation of very powerful computers.

“There is no advanced technology used today that does not rely on quantum mechanics, including mobile phones, cameras… and fibre optic cables,” said the Nobel committee.

“It is 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,” said Olle Eriksson, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics.

The announcement was made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at a news conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

“To put it mildly, it was a surprise of my life,” said Professor John Clarke, who was born in Cambridge, UK and now works at the University of California in Berkeley.

Michel H. Devoret was born in Paris, France and is a professor at Yale University while John M. Martinis is a professor at University of California, Santa Barbara.

The three winners will share prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.1 million).

The Nobel committee recognized breakthrough work performed by the three men in a series of experiments in the 1980s on electrical circuits.

In the words of the committee, “the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electric circuit.”

Even for a field often considered dense, this discovery sounds bewildering.

But its implications have been profound and far-reaching. The electronic devices that most of us use rely on it, and the findings are being used to build extremely powerful computers.

“This is something that leads to development of the quantum computer*. Many people are working on quantum computing, our discovery is in many ways the basis of this,” said Prof Clarke on the phone to the news conference moments after he was told he had won.

He appeared mystified that his work completed forty years ago is worthy of science’s most prestigious prize.

“I’m completely stunned. At the time we did not realize in any way that this might be the basis for a Nobel prize,” he said.

[Per Google AI, “quantum computers exist now, with operational prototypes built by companies like IBM and Google, though they are still in early development and limited to specific, complex tasks rather than general-purpose use. While there isn’t a fully scalable, error-free quantum computer for mainstream applications yet, these experimental systems are used for research in fields like AI and material science.”].

Quantum mechanics relates to the behavior of tiny things in a tiny world. It refers to what particles like the electron do in the sub-atomic world.

Professor Clarke and his team looked at how these particles appeared to break rules like traveling through energy barriers that conventional physics said was impossible – something called “tunneling.”

Using quantum “tunneling,” the electron manages to burrow through the energy barrier.

Their work demonstrated that tunneling can be reproduced not only in the quantum world, but also in electrical circuits in the ‘real world.’

This knowledge has been harnessed by scientists in making modern quantum chips.

“This is wonderful news indeed, and very well deserved,” said Professor Lesley Cohen, Associate Provost in the Department of Physics at Imperial College London.

“Their work has laid the foundations for superconducting Qubits – one of the main hardware technologies for quantum technologies.”

Previous winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics

2024 – Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield for their work on AI and machine learning;
2023 – Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier for work on attoseconds – extremely short pulses of light that can be used to capture and study rapid processes inside atoms;
2022 – Alain Aspect, American John Clauser and Austrian Anton Zeilinger for research into quantum mechanics – the science that describes nature at the smallest scales;
2021 – Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi were given the prize for advancing our understanding of complex systems, such as Earth’s climate;
2020 – Sir Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez received the prize for their work on the nature of black holes;
2019 – James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz shared the prize for ground-breaking discoveries about the Universe;

Published at BBCNews on Oct. 7. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.

Background

THE NOBEL PRIZE

Every year since 1901 the Nobel Prize has been awarded for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for peace.
The Nobel Prize is an international award administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden.
In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank established The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prize.
Each prize consists of a medal, personal diploma, and a cash award.
The prizes are always handed out in ceremonies on Dec. 10, the date that prize founder Alfred Nobel died in 1896.

A series of groundbreaking experiments

Quantum mechanics describes properties that are significant on a scale that involves single particles. In quantum physics, these phenomena are called microscopic, even when they are much smaller than can be seen using an optical microscope. This contrasts with macroscopic phenomena, which consist of a large number of particles. For example, an everyday ball is built up of an astronomical amount of molecules and displays no quantum mechanical effects. We know that the ball will bounce back every time it is thrown at a wall. A single particle, however, will sometimes pass straight through an equivalent barrier in its microscopic world and appear on the other side. This quantum mechanical phenomenon is called tunnelling.

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes experiments that demonstrated how quantum tunneling can be observed on a macroscopic scale, involving many particles.
(Read more, with images, from nobel.org)

From Google AI Overview:

Quantum mechanics explains the behavior of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic levels, with practical examples including modern electronic devices like transistors, which form the basis of computers, as well as lasers, MRI scanners, solar cells, and the technology behind GPS systems. Other examples include the dual wave-particle nature of light, the phenomenon of quantum entanglement, and the principle that observing a particle can change its state.

Everyday Applications

Electronics: Transistors are a direct application of quantum mechanics and are fundamental to modern computers and digital communication.

Medical Technology: Quantum principles are used in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners for medical diagnosis and in lasers for various medical procedures, such as tattoo removal.

Lighting and Energy: Lasers, LED lights, and solar cells all rely on quantum mechanical phenomena to function.

Navigation: The atomic clocks used for Global Positioning Systems (GPS) also operate on quantum principles.

From Grok AI:
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded on October 8, 2025, went to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis for their work on making quantum behaviors — strange effects usually seen in tiny particles like atoms — happen in larger objects, specifically electrical circuits made from superconductors. Here’s why this is a big deal, explained simply for someone new to physics:

What They Discovered

Normally, everyday objects (like a ball or a chair) follow predictable rules: if you push something, it moves in a clear way. But at the super-small level of atoms and electrons, things act differently. For example, particles can seem to be in two places at once or pass through barriers like they’re not even there. These are called quantum effects, and they’re usually only seen in very tiny things.

The scientists found a way to make these quantum effects happen in bigger, human-made circuits. They used superconductors, which are materials that let electricity flow perfectly when cooled to extremely low temperatures. Their key findings:

Electricity in these circuits can “tunnel” through barriers, like passing through a wall without breaking it.

The energy in these circuits comes in specific, fixed amounts, like steps on a ladder, not a smooth slide.

This shows that quantum behaviors aren’t just for tiny particles—they can work in larger systems we can build and study.

Why It Matters

This discovery is significant because it lays the groundwork for new technologies and deeper understanding of the world. Here’s how:

Quantum Computers: Unlike regular computers, which process information one step at a time, quantum computers could handle many tasks at once. This could lead to solving problems much faster, like creating new medicines, improving climate models, or making unhackable communication systems. Their work makes building these computers more possible.
Advanced Tools: Their findings could lead to devices that detect tiny changes, like better medical scanners, or create super-secure internet connections.
New Science: It helps scientists explore whether quantum effects could explain bigger mysteries, like how certain animals navigate or how the universe works at different scales.

In short, their discovery bridges the gap between the strange world of tiny particles and the larger world we can work with, opening doors to powerful new technologies and knowledge. It’s like figuring out how to bring a hidden set of rules into everyday tools, which could change how we solve problems in the future.