Nobel Prize in Physics 2025: The 1985 Experiment That Paved the Way for Quantum Computing

8 October, 2025

John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis showed that full electrical circuits can behave quantum-mechanically, a breakthrough that became the foundation of superconducting qubits

[Image: A chip built by NIST demonstrating the Josephson effect. Source: Wikipedia]

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Tuesday that the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clarke of the University of California, Berkeley, Michel Devoret of Yale University, and John Martinis of the University of California, Santa Barbara. The trio was recognized for groundbreaking experiments conducted in 1984–1985 that proved quantum phenomena can exist in large, measurable systems.

Their experiments showed for the first time that entire electrical circuits can obey the rules of quantum mechanics — a discovery that opened the door to quantum computers, quantum sensors, and the next generation of physics-based technology.

At the core of their work lies a phenomenon known as quantum tunneling — a process in which a system can “tunnel” through an energy barrier that, classically, it should not be able to cross. To demonstrate this, the researchers built circuits containing a tiny component called a Josephson junction, in which two superconductors are separated by a thin insulating layer. When cooled to near absolute zero, the electrons in the circuit act as a single quantum entity, allowing the entire system to “jump” between energy states without crossing the barrier in the classical sense — a behavior previously observed only in subatomic particles. Their results also showed that these circuits absorb and emit energy in discrete packets, or quanta, following the same fundamental rules that govern atoms and photons.

This breakthrough bridged the gap between the microscopic and macroscopic worlds. It proved that quantum effects aren’t confined to the atomic realm and that devices visible to the naked eye can be engineered to behave according to quantum laws.

From Quantum Circuits to Quantum Computers

The circuits built by Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis became the foundation for what, decades later, would form the core of the quantum computer: the superconducting qubit. The revolutionary idea was to turn a quantum electrical circuit into a unit of computation in which current could flow in two directions simultaneously — just as a particle can exist in two states at once. Unlike a classical bit that represents 0 or 1, a qubit can represent both at the same time, allowing quantum computers to perform many calculations in parallel.

John Martinis went on to lead Google’s quantum hardware team, which built the Sycamore processor — the first machine to demonstrate quantum supremacy by performing a computation that would have been practically impossible for a classical supercomputer. Michel Devoret, at Yale, pioneered the field of Circuit QED, which couples superconducting qubits to microwave fields for precise control and measurement. John Clarke, at Berkeley, was among the first to show that minuscule magnetic signals could be detected using SQUID sensors — devices so sensitive that their technology still underpins MRI scanners and nuclear medicine today.

The Engineering Leap

Beyond its scientific brilliance, the trio’s work was also an engineering triumph. Observing such delicate phenomena required cooling systems that brought temperatures down to mere thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, near-perfect electromagnetic shielding, and measurement devices of unprecedented sensitivity. These innovations have since become standard tools in the quantum computing industry.

This year’s Nobel Prize thus recognizes more than a discovery — it marks a transformation. Quantum physics has evolved from a theoretical curiosity into a technological foundation that can be built, controlled, and scaled. Thanks to Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis, the journey from abstract theory to practical quantum systems is complete — and the age of quantum computing has truly begun.

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Posted in tags: Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 , Quantum Computing

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