Overview
- The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis for discovering macroscopic quantum tunneling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.
- Their 1984–85 Josephson-junction work at UC Berkeley showed quantum behavior in superconducting circuits large enough to handle.
- The Nobel committee said the discoveries laid crucial foundations for superconducting qubits and continue to influence quantum computing, cryptography and sensing.
- Clarke described the award as a surprise and acknowledged uncertainty about the exact throughline to today’s technologies, reflecting coverage that frames the prize as a case for slow, basic science.
- The three laureates will share 11 million Swedish kronor, with affiliations spanning UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara and Yale.