NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS 2025

Current Context: The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis (USA) for their pioneering research demonstrating quantum properties on a human scale.

• Their work proves that quantum mechanical behavior can occur not just in atoms but also in systems large enough to hold in one’s hand.

ABOUT THE DISCOVERY

• Focus: Demonstration of quantum mechanics at macroscopic levels (visible size).
• Key Concept: Quantum tunnelling — the ability of particles to pass through barriers even when classical physics forbids it.
• Innovation:
  • Used electric circuits with two superconducting components separated by a thin non-conductive layer, forming a Josephson Junction.
  • The system absorbed and emitted quantized energy as predicted by quantum theory.
• Significance: Lays the foundation for quantum computers, quantum sensors, and next-generation transistors.

ABOUT QUANTUM MECHANICS

• Explains how tiny particles exhibit both wave and particle properties — known as wave-particle duality.
• It is the fundamental theory describing atomic and sub-atomic behavior in physics.