Or Niklas Elmed / Nobel Prize Outreach
John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis, silly physics awards 2025
The Nobel Prize of Physics was attributed to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis “by the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electrical circuit”.
The Royal Academy of Sciences of Sweden announced this Tuesday the attribution of the Nobel Prize for Physics 2025 a John Clarke, Michel devour from John Martinis By their work in showing how quantum particles can mysteriously cross the matter.
The discovery of the three American physicists helped produce the superconducting quantum technology that constitutes the backbone of the quantum computers current.
“An important issue in physics is the maximum size of a system Able to demonstrate effects of quantum mechanics, ”explains the gym published on his website.
“This year’s Nobel Prize Laureates conducted experiments with an electrical circuit in which they demonstrated both quantum tunneling like the quantized energy levels In a large enough system to be held in hand, ”says the statement.
As quantum particles They have a variety of strange behaviors, such as their probabilistic nature and the fact that they can only have specific energy levels rather than a continuum, explains.
This leads them to behave sometimes in unexpected ways, such as crossing a seemingly solid barrier by tunnel. Such singularities were discovered by physicists as Erwin Schrödinger in the early decades after the beginning of quantum mechanics.
Although the implications of these behaviors were clearly profound, for example the theory of nuclear decay, scientists could only observe them in individual particles and simple systems.
It was unclear whether more complex systems such as electronic circuits, previously described only by classical physics, were also subject to these rules. You Quantum Tunning Effectsfor example, they looked disappearR when large -scale systems were observed.
In 1985, Clarke, Martinis and Devoret, researchers at the University of California, measured the properties of loaded particles that moved through superconducting circuits called Josephson’s Junctionsa device that earned the British physicist Brian Josephson the Nobel Prize for Physics of 1973.
These junctions use wires that have zero electrical resistance and are separated by an insulating material.
The investigators demonstrated that the particles that moved through these junctions They acted as a single particle and assumed distinct energy levels, a distinctly quantum effectalso registering a tension that would be impossible without having jumped over the insulating barrier, a clear example of quantum tunneling.
The work of the three researchers now earned them the recognition of the Royal Academy of Sweden Sciences. “I’m completely stunned“Clarke told the Nobel Committee upon learning that he had received the prize.” It never occurred to me at all that this could be the basis for a Nobel Prize. “
This is the second of the Nobel Prize to be announced, after yesterday the. In the coming days, the awards relating to chemistry, literature and peace are followed in the coming days.
The equity Economic Sciences or Economics Awardcreated in honor of Alfred Nobel and awarded since 1969, is announced on October 14, Monday.
With this year’s edition, the Nobel Prize for Physics has been assigned 119 times. Last year, it was up to “fundamental discoveries and inventions that allow the learning of machines through artificial neural networks.”
Nobel Prizes, created in 1895 by the Swedish chemist, engineer and industrial Alfred Nobel inventor of dynamite, were first awarded in 1901.
The awards ceremony will be on December 10, when the NOBEL DEATH BIRTHDAYwhich occurred in 1896.
