Overview

• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the award on October 8, citing work that opened avenues for quantum encryption, quantum computers, and quantum sensors.
• In the mid‑1980s the laureates showed quantum tunneling and quantized energy levels using superconducting electronic circuits large enough to observe directly.
• Nobel Committee chair Ole Eriksson said quantum mechanics still surprises researchers and forms the basis of modern digital technologies.
• John Clarke reacted by saying he felt completely stunned and had never imagined the research would become the basis for a Nobel Prize.
• Clarke is a professor at UC Berkeley, Michel Devoret holds appointments at Yale and UC Santa Barbara, and John Martinis is on the UC Santa Barbara faculty.