All three recipients of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics are faculty members at the University of California. The Nobel committee recognized John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electric circuit.”
Their research has been fundamental to the progress of quantum computing, a field that could allow computers to solve problems beyond the reach of current technology. Quantum computers have potential applications in areas such as drug discovery, cybersecurity, agriculture, and energy.
John Clarke is an emeritus professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. Michel H. Devoret is a professor of physics at UC Santa Barbara and Yale University. John M. Martinis earned his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and is an emeritus professor of physics at UC Santa Barbara.
“To put it mildly, it was the surprise of my life,” Clarke said during a phone call with the Nobel committee at the press conference in Stockholm. He added that the possibility of winning the Nobel Prize “had not occurred to us in any way.”
UC President James B. Milliken commented on the significance of their work: “Their research has opened the door to the next generation of quantum technologies, including quantum cryptography, computers, and sensors — breakthroughs that will change how we do everything from discovering new drugs to stopping destructive cyberattacks.” Milliken also noted, “With today’s recognition, Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis join a long line of esteemed UC faculty who have won a remarkable 74 Nobel Prizes, including 23 in physics. These awards are not only great honors — they are tangible evidence of the work happening across the University of California every day to expand knowledge, test the boundaries of science, and conduct research that improves our lives. I’m proud to see their work recognized.”
The trio’s prize-winning research began in the mid-1980s at UC Berkeley, where Devoret was a postdoctoral researcher and Martinis a graduate student in Clarke’s lab. They explored quantum tunneling, a phenomenon where particles can pass through barriers that would be impenetrable according to classical physics. While quantum tunneling had been observed at very small scales, their experiments in 1984 and 1985 demonstrated this effect in a larger system—a superconducting electrical circuit.
This discovery laid the groundwork for today’s quantum computers, which use quantum bits (qubits) that can exist in multiple states at once due to superposition and entanglement. This allows quantum computers to perform many calculations simultaneously, unlike traditional computers that rely on binary bits.
However, maintaining these quantum states is challenging because they are easily disrupted by external factors such as heat or light. Most current quantum computers use superconducting qubits operating at extremely low temperatures, a concept first described by Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis.
Irfan Siddiqi, chair of UC Berkeley’s Department of Physics and a former postdoctoral fellow with Devoret at Yale, said: “This was the grandfather of qubits. Modern qubit circuits have more knobs and wires and things, but that’s just how to tune the levels, how to couple or entangle them. The basic idea that [these] circuits could be quantized and were quantum was really shown in this experiment.”
Clarke has also contributed significantly to the development of ultrasensitive detectors known as SQUIDs (superconducting quantum interference devices), used across various scientific fields including geophysics and biosensing. He is currently collaborating with the Axion Dark Matter Experiment (ADMX), for which he developed a low-noise superconducting amplifier based on SQUIDs.
Martinis completed his doctorate under Clarke at UC Berkeley before joining UC Santa Barbara in 2004. In 2014, he led a team hired by Google Quantum AI to build a quantum computer capable of solving problems previously thought unsolvable by classical machines. He left Google in 2020 and later co-founded Qolab.
“It is a great honor to be awarded the Nobel prize,” said Martinis. “I am grateful to have worked with John Clarke and Michel Devoret during my Ph.D. thesis, as they taught me how to do compelling experiments. The global physics community has also contributed greatly to the success of superconducting qubits. Next, let’s build a useful quantum computer!”
Devoret received his doctorate from University of Paris, Orsay, before joining Clarke’s lab as a postdoc from 1982-1984. He later directed research groups in France and became a professor at Yale University from 2002-2024 before joining UC Santa Barbara.
Berkeley Lab Director Mike Witherell said: “I was thrilled to hear that the Nobel was awarded to John Clarke, John Martinis, and Michel Devoret, all of whom have been leading the second quantum revolution we are now enjoying. John Clarke was a leading faculty scientist at Berkeley Lab for many years, supported by the Department of Energy’s Basic Energy Sciences program. This is great news.”
Olle Eriksson, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, noted the broader context: “It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the way that century-old quantum mechanics continually offers new surprises,” adding that “quantum mechanics is the foundation of all digital technology.”
This year marks only the second time three University of California faculty have shared a Nobel Prize in one category; the previous instance was in 1995 when three UC Irvine scientists were honored for their work on ozone-depleting chemicals.
On Monday, Frederick J. Ramsdell—who earned degrees from UC San Diego and UCLA—was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his contributions to immunology.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
