On October 7, 2025, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists whose pioneering research has brought the strange world of quantum mechanics into the heart of modern technology. John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis, all affiliated with major American universities and technology companies, were recognized for their groundbreaking work on quantum tunneling and macroscopic quantum effects—findings that have already begun shaping everything from ultra-sensitive medical imaging to the next generation of computers.
The trio’s journey began in the mid-1980s, when they set out to explore whether the bizarre, counterintuitive principles of quantum mechanics—long thought to be confined to the realm of atoms and subatomic particles—could be harnessed in larger, tangible systems. Their answer, delivered through meticulous experiments, was a resounding yes. By constructing superconducting electrical circuits containing Josephson Junctions, they demonstrated that quantum phenomena could be controlled and observed at a scale large enough to be integrated into electronic devices. As Google’s Quantum AI team celebrated, their blog hailed the achievement as “a profound testament to the recipients’ work, and to the power of fundamental research.”
John Clarke, now 83, conducted his research at the University of California, Berkeley. Michel Devoret, 72, currently serves as Chief Scientist of Quantum Hardware on Google’s Quantum AI team and is also affiliated with Yale and UC Santa Barbara. John Martinis, 67, worked at UC Santa Barbara and was a senior scientist at Google before co-founding his own company, Qolab. According to Associated Press reporting, the three scientists’ work “took the seeming contradictions of the subatomic world—where light can be both a wave and a particle and parts of atoms can tunnel through seemingly impenetrable barriers—and applied them in the more traditional physics of digital devices.”
The impact of their research is already being felt. Ultra-sensitive measuring devices, such as MRI machines, rely on the principles they established. As Jonathan Bagger, CEO of the American Physical Society, explained to AP, “Quantum mechanics is everywhere in everything we do, from the cellphone to the satellite communications that are connected to the cellphones to the screens on which we watch our videos on our cellphones.” While it might be a stretch to say every smartphone directly uses their breakthrough, the ultra-sensitive sensors and improved imaging technologies that power modern communications and medical diagnostics owe much to their discoveries.
Clarke himself, speaking from his cellphone, told AP, “One of the underlying reasons that cellphones work is because of all this work.” He added, “It had never occurred to me, ever, that I would win the Nobel Prize. To put it mildly, it was the surprise of my life.” Clarke’s daughter was the first to call and congratulate him, and he soon found his inbox flooded with hundreds of messages. At the Nobel Prize announcement, Clarke said by phone, “I practically collapsed. I was completely stunned. I mean, it’s something that I had never, ever dreamed of in my entire life.”
Martinis, meanwhile, was still asleep when journalists called his home hours after the announcement. His wife, Jean, told the AP that in the past, they’d stayed up late on the night of the physics award, but eventually decided sleep was more important. Once woken and informed, Martinis checked his computer, saw his name and photo among the winners, and admitted, “So I was kind of in shock.”
Devoret, who could not be immediately reached by reporters, is now a central figure in Google’s push to build practical quantum computers. The company’s Quantum AI team credits the Nobel-winning research as laying the foundation for today’s superconducting quantum bits (qubits), the building blocks of quantum computers. Their work enabled Google’s own advances, including the Willow quantum chip and the 2019 milestone demonstrating quantum supremacy—the moment a quantum computer completed a calculation impossible for any classical computer.
Physics Today’s editor-in-chief, Richard Fitzgerald, who once worked in a competing research group, told AP, “They found a way to demonstrate the weirdness of quantum mechanics at the level where humans live.” He elaborated, “The winning physicists took ‘the scale of something that we can’t see, we can’t touch, we can’t feel’ and brought it ‘up to the scale of something recognizable’ and made it ‘something you can build upon.’”
Mark Pearce, a professor of astrophysics and member of the Nobel Physics Committee, noted that the research could lead to “quantum sensors, so to be able to make very sensitive measurements of, for example, magnetic fields, and perhaps also for cryptography, so to encode information so it cannot be easily listened to by a third party.” Martinis himself emphasized the future potential: “A computer could be much, much more powerful.” He estimated that practical quantum computing might still be eight to 10 years away, but the foundation is now firmly in place.
Clarke also addressed broader issues, criticizing the Trump administration’s cuts to science funding. “If this continues … it may take a decade to get back to where we were half a year ago,” he warned, underscoring the importance of sustained investment in basic research.
The Nobel Prize in Physics has now been awarded 119 times. Last year, the honor went to artificial intelligence pioneers John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for their foundational work in machine learning. The 2025 Nobel season began with the Medicine Prize on October 6, awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi for their discoveries about immune system self-tolerance. The Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Economics Prizes are scheduled to be announced throughout the week.
The Nobel awards carry not only immense prestige but also a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kronor (nearly $1.2 million). The ceremony will take place on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, in Stockholm. For the recipients, the recognition is both a personal and professional milestone. As Olle Eriksson, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, put it, “It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the way that century-old quantum mechanics continually offers new surprises. It is also enormously useful, as quantum mechanics is the foundation of all digital technology.”
In the end, the story of Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis is a reminder that the strangest corners of physics can have the most profound effects on daily life—and that the future of technology may well depend on the curiosity and persistence of those who dare to explore the unknown.
