2025 Nobel Prize in Physics: Macroscopic Quantum Effects and Superconducting Qubits

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Michel Devoret — Chief Scientist for Quantum Hardware at Google Quantum AI, John Martinis — former head of Google’s quantum computing division, and John Clarke from the University of California, Berkeley.

The Discovery Behind the Nobel: Macroscopic Quantum Effects

The prize recognizes the discovery of macroscopic quantum effects — phenomena in which the strange laws of the quantum world manifest in ordinary electrical circuits. In the 1980s, the laureates built a superconducting circuit with a Josephson junction in which a quantum state could not only be observed but also actively controlled.

From Josephson Junctions to Superconducting Qubits

These experiments laid the groundwork for superconducting qubits — the fundamental building block of modern quantum computers. The same principles power Google’s quantum processors today, including the Willow chip and the landmark 2019 experiment that demonstrated quantum supremacy.

Google’s Growing Nobel Legacy in Quantum Computing

Google now counts five Nobel laureates among its researchers, including Demis Hassabis, John Jumper, and Geoffrey Hinton — all laureates from 2024. Three prizes in two years, each sitting at the boundary between artificial intelligence and fundamental physics.

Quantum Mechanics as the Foundation of Future Computing

Quantum mechanics, once considered a philosophical puzzle, has become a technology on which the future of computing is being built.

Source — Google Quantum AI