The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to three scientists from the University of California, John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis for their groundbreaking discovery of macroscopic quantum tunneling and energy quantization in electrical circuits.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the award on Tuesday, praising the trio’s work for opening “a new horizon in quantum physics” and laying the foundation for future technological advances.
Quantum Behavior on a Larger Scale
Quantum mechanics typically explains the behavior of subatomic particles. But this year’s laureates demonstrated that such phenomena can also be observed in larger, engineered systems.
They built a superconducting electrical circuit capable of “tunneling” directly from one state to another — a process that appears as if an object has passed straight through a wall. Their experiments also confirmed that the system absorbs and emits energy in discrete amounts, exactly as quantum theory predicts.
A Step Toward Future Technologies
The discovery has been hailed as a milestone for quantum science, with significant implications for the development of quantum computing and advanced electronics.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physics went to John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for pioneering work that laid the foundations of modern machine learning.
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