The trio awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Physics for "exploring quantum mechanics at new scales." Courtesy of the Nobel Committee. 

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clauser, Michel Devoret, and John Marketys for their research on quantum mechanical effects observed at macroscopic scales.

They investigated how quantum mechanics, typically applied at the atomic level, extends beyond the microscopic world to manifest in macroscopic systems such as electrical circuits.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Nobel Committee announced on the 7th (local time) that the prize was awarded for "discoveries of macroscopic quantum tunneling and energy quantization in electrical circuits."

All of this year's laureates are affiliated with American universities.

Professor Clauser is currently at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), Professor Devoret at Yale University and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara), and Professor Marketys at UC Santa Barbara.

Clauser was born in Cambridge, UK, in 1942, and Devoret in Paris, France, in 1953. Marketys was born in 1958.

In its announcement, the Nobel Committee summarized their achievements as "research that allowed us to encounter quantum mechanics at new scales."

The committee stated, "One of physics' fundamental questions is the maximum size of a system that can exhibit quantum mechanical effects. This year's Nobel laureates in Physics have shown both 'quantum tunneling' and 'quantized energy levels' in systems large enough to be tangible, by conducting experiments with electrical circuits."

Quantum mechanical effects are readily apparent at microscopic scales, such as with atoms and electrons, but often not clearly or concretely observable at the macroscopic scales encountered in daily life.

However, this year's Nobel laureates demonstrated, using chips with electrical circuits made of superconductors, that phenomena explained only by quantum mechanics, such as 'quantum tunneling' and 'energy quantization,' can be concretely observed not only at the microscopic but also at the macroscopic level.

The committee noted that the experiments by this year's laureates took place in 1984 and 1985.

The committee added, "This year's Nobel Prize in Physics has opened up opportunities for developing the next generation of quantum technologies," citing quantum cryptography, quantum computing, and quantum sensors as examples of next-generation quantum technologies.

Ole Eriksson, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, commented, "Quantum mechanics, which is a century old, continues to offer new surprises. It is also immensely useful, as quantum mechanics is the foundation of all digital technology."

Regarding the achievements of the three laureates, Richard Fitzgerald, Editor of Physics Today, the monthly magazine of the American Institute of Physics (AIP), told the Associated Press, "They scaled up something we couldn't see, touch, or feel to a scale we could perceive, and then used that as a basis to do something different."

Fitzgerald has prior research experience in the same field with a research group that competed with this year's laureates in the 1990s.

Mark Pearce, a member of the Nobel Committee for Physics and a professor of astrophysics, explained the applicability of this research to AP, stating, "Quantum computers are an easily conceivable application, but it can also be used in quantum sensors for highly sensitive measurements, such as of magnetic fields, and in cryptography to encrypt information so that it cannot be easily intercepted by a third party."

According to the Associated Press, Professor Clauser told reporters gathered for the Nobel Prize announcement, "To put it mildly, it was the most surprising event of my life."

According to AFP, he explained that at the time, the researchers focused solely on the physical implications of their experiments and did not consider the possibility of practical applications, adding, "We didn't think at the time that this discovery would have such a significant impact."

The Associated Press reported him saying, "In a way, our discovery can be considered the foundation of quantum computing. I'm not entirely sure where it fits in right now, but one of the reasons behind how mobile phones work is that all of this is (actually) true."

The laureates will share the prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor (approximately 1.64 billion Korean won) equally, receiving one-third each.

The Nobel Committee announced the laureates in Physics today, following the announcement of the prize in Physiology or Medicine yesterday.

The announcement of this year's Nobel Prize winners continues with the prize in Chemistry on the 8th, Literature on the 9th, Peace on the 10th, and Economics on the 13th.

Yonhap News