British physicist John Clarke, France’s Michel Devoret, and American scientist John Martinis were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for their pioneering contributions to the field of quantum mechanics, specifically for demonstrating quantum tunnelling and energy quantisation on a macroscopic scale.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honoured the trio “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit,” marking a significant milestone in experimental quantum physics.
Quantum mechanics governs the peculiar behaviours of particles at microscopic levels, where the rules of classical physics no longer apply. One such phenomenon is quantum tunnelling — where particles can effectively pass through barriers that would be insurmountable according to conventional physics. While traditionally observed only at subatomic scales, the laureates’ work in the 1980s proved that these effects could also manifest on larger, tangible scales using superconducting circuits.
“This year’s laureates have shown that the bizarre properties of the quantum world can be made concrete in systems large enough to hold in your hand,” the Academy noted in its official statement.
Their experimental breakthroughs laid the foundation for a new era of quantum technologies, with applications ranging from quantum cryptography and advanced sensing to the burgeoning field of quantum computing. The Nobel committee underscored the discoveries as instrumental in shaping the next generation of quantum devices.
“It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the way that century-old quantum mechanics continually offers new surprises,” said Olle Eriksson, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics. “It is also enormously useful, as quantum mechanics is the foundation of all digital technology.”
‘The Surprise of My Life’
John Clarke, 83, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, reacted to the announcement with humility and astonishment. “To put it mildly, it was the surprise of my life,” he told reporters by phone during the press briefing. “It never occurred to me in any way that this might be the basis of a Nobel Prize.”
Clarke recalled that at the time of the experiments, the team was focused purely on the physics, without anticipating the broader technological implications. “It certainly had not occurred to us in any way that this discovery would have such a significant impact,” he said.
Michel Devoret, 72, currently serves as a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and holds emeritus status at Yale University. John Martinis, born in 1958, is also a professor at UC Santa Barbara.
The Nobel Season Continues
The Physics Prize is the second award of the 2024 Nobel season. On Monday, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell of the United States and Japan’s Shimon Sakaguchi for their discoveries related to immune system regulation, identifying so-called immunological “security guards.”
In 2023, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield for their foundational work in artificial intelligence, with both laureates cautioning about the ethical and societal risks posed by the technology.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be announced on Wednesday, followed by the Literature Prize on Thursday. The prestigious Nobel Peace Prize — often the most closely watched — will be revealed on Friday, while the Economics Prize concludes the 2024 Nobel announcements on October 14.
Each Nobel Prize includes a diploma, a gold medal, and a monetary award of $1.2 million, shared if there are multiple recipients. The laureates will formally receive their prizes on December 10 in Stockholm, commemorating the anniversary of the 1896 death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor and philanthropist who established the awards in his will.
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