Physics Nobel Prize 2025: John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis

• Stockholm, Sweden: This year’s Physics Nobel Prize has been awarded to three American scientists — John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis.
• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced it on Tuesday.
• The award honors their pioneering work on macroscopic quantum tunneling and energy quantization.
• Quantum tunneling is a process where a particle passes through a barrier that would be impossible to cross according to classical physics.
• In everyday life, a ball bounces back when it hits a wall. But in the quantum world, tiny particles can sometimes pass through the wall and emerge on the other side.

Experiments and Discoveries

In 1984–1985 at University of California, John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis conducted experiments using an electrical circuit made of two superconductors:

• A thin layer between the superconductors normally blocked electricity.
• Nevertheless, all charged particles in the circuit acted together as if they were a single particle.
• It was observed that particles could pass through the thin layer, providing direct evidence of quantum tunneling.

This experiment demonstrated that quantum effects can appear in large systems, which were previously considered limited to atoms and subatomic particles.

A Major Step in Quantum Mechanics

• The scientists observed quantum tunneling and quantized energy levels in larger systems like electrical circuits.
• This discovery opens new possibilities in quantum computing, semiconductors, and digital technology.
• Understanding quantum tunneling could lead to its application in future technologies and microchips.

Nobel Prize Announcement

• The winners’ names were announced at the Nobel Academy session hall in Stockholm.
• During the press conference, the names, details of their discoveries, and potential impacts were shared.

History of the Nobel Prize

• Founded: 1895, based on Alfred Nobel’s will
• First award: 1901
• Initially awarded in Physics, Medicine, Chemistry, Literature, and Peace; later Economics was added.
• The names of nominees remain confidential for 50 years.

Physics Nobel Laureates from India

• Sir C.V. Raman (1930)
  • Discovered the Raman Effect, widely used in lasers and medical technologies.
• Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1983)
  • Researched the life and death of stars; the Chandrasekhar limit is critical for studying black holes.