Today's Edition
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Scientists John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for "the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit", the award-giving body said on Tuesday.
"This year's Nobel Prize in Physics has provided opportunities for developing the next generation of quantum technology, including quantum cryptography, quantum computers, and quantum sensors," the prize-awarding body said in a statement.
All three winners are based in the United States.
The Nobel physics prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and includes a prize sum totalling 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million) that is shared among the winners if there are several, as is often the case.
Clarke, 83, is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Devoret, 72, is a professor at University of California, Santa Barbara and is listed as a professor emeritus at Yale University.
Martinis, born 1958, is also a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
"To put it mildly, it was the surprise of my life," Clarke told reporters via telephone during the prize announcement, about learning of his award.
"It never occurred to me in any way that this might be the basis of a Nobel prize," Clarke added.
Clarke explained that the scientists had been focused on the physics of their experiments and had not realised at the time the practical applications that could follow.
"It certainly had not occurred to us in any way that this discovery would have such a significant impact," Clarke said.
Cell phones
Asked about how their discoveries had affected everyday life, Clarke noted that he was speaking to the audience via his mobile phone.
"One of the underlying reasons that the cell phone works is because of all this work," Clarke said.
The Nobel Prizes were established through the will of Alfred Nobel, who amassed a fortune from his invention of dynamite.
Since 1901, with occasional interruptions, the prizes have annually recognised achievements in science, literature, and peace. Economics was a later addition.
Physics was the first category mentioned in Nobel's will, likely reflecting the prominence of the field during his time.
Today, the Nobel Prize in Physics remains widely regarded as the most prestigious award in the discipline.
Past winners of the Nobel physics prize include some of the most influential figures in the history of science, such as Albert Einstein, Pierre and Marie Curie, Max Planck and Niels Bohr, a pioneer of quantum theory.
Last year's prize was won by US scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton for breakthroughs in machine learning that spurred the artificial intelligence boom, a development about which both have also expressed concerns.
In keeping with tradition, physics is the second Nobel to be awarded this week, after two American and one Japanese scientist won the medicine prize for breakthroughs in understanding the immune system.
The chemistry prize is due next, on Wednesday.
The science, literature and economics prizes are presented to the laureates by the Swedish king at a ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death, followed by a lavish banquet at city hall.
The peace prize, which will be announced on Friday, is awarded in a separate ceremony in Oslo.
