What was the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to?

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Created: October 08, 2025 08:51

The Nobel Committee emphasized that the trio's work "offers opportunities for the development of next-generation quantum technologies, including quantum cryptography, quantum computers, and quantum sensors."

FROM THE QUANTUM WORLD TO THE MACROSCOPIC SCALE

Quantum mechanics explains how matter behaves on a very small scale. For example, a regular ball bounces off a wall, but at the quantum scale, a particle can pass right through a wall, an effect known as "tunneling."

"These scientists have essentially succeeded in doing this on an electrical circuit," Nobel Committee Secretary Ulf Danielsson said in a statement.

In experiments performed in the 1980s, Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis proved that quantum tunneling could also be observed on a macroscopic scale using superconductors.

“This award honors an experiment that has taken quantum effects to a level we can now understand on a human scale,” Danielsson said.

“IT WAS THE BIGGEST SURPRISE OF MY LIFE”

Clarke, 83, is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Devoret, 72, works at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is a professor emeritus at Yale University. Martinis, born in 1958, is also a professor at the same university.

Clarke, who said he couldn't hide his surprise when he heard the news of the award, said, "Frankly, it was the biggest surprise of my life. We were just focusing on the science behind our physics experiments. We never imagined at the time that this discovery would have such a big impact."

When asked about the impact of his discoveries on daily life, Clarke recalled being interviewed by phone: “I’m talking on my cell phone—one of the things that makes this device work is the work we do.”

'BRAIN DRAIN' AND SCIENCE BUDGET WARNING

As with most Nobel laureates, the trio's research was conducted in the US. Clarke criticized then-President Donald Trump's budget cuts to science programs, saying, "If this continues, it will be devastating. Research will be paralyzed."

The US's long-standing investment in fundamental science and academic freedom have led to its predominance in Nobel Prizes. However, Eleanor Crane, a quantum physicist at King's College in England, said, " Michel Devoret 's departure to the US was an example of a brain drain, but now that trend is reversing."

Nobel Prize Week Continues

The physics prize is the second of this year's Nobel season. The Nobel Prize in Medicine, announced on Monday, was awarded to Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell of the United States and Shimon Sakaguchi of Japan for their discoveries on the immune system.

Nobel Week continues with the chemistry prize on Wednesday, the literature prize on Thursday, and the highly coveted Peace Prize on Friday. The economics prize will conclude the Nobel season with its announcement on October 13.

The winners will receive their diplomas, gold medals and $1.2 million checks at ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Nobel Prize founder Alfred Nobel.