Michel Devoret, a Google Quantum AI chief scientist, John Martinis, who left Google in 2020, and John Clarke win the Nobel in Physics for quantum computing work
all 3 @UofCalifornia professors. Home to groundbreaking physicists, including 2 immigrants leading the world in innovation and possibility, California is proud to dream big and deliver even bigger. @energy : Congratulations to John Clarke (formerly @BerkeleyLab), Michel Devoret, & John M. Martinis for receiving the 2025 Nobel Prize in physics! Their research on quantum effects, supported by @doescience, will set the stage for next-gen quantum tech. [image] Noah Smith / @noahpinion : Google was the new Bell Labs all along Peyman Milanfar / @docmilanfar : Google has reached a remarkable milestone not seen since the heyday of Bell Labs: 5 of its current/former employees are science Nobel laureates. This remarkable concentration of talent signals a major shift: fundamental discoveries are no longer confined to the halls of academia @nobelprize : When you throw a ball at a wall, you can be sure it will bounce back at you. You would be extremely surprised if the ball suddenly appeared on the other side of the wall. In quantum mechanics this type of phenomenon is called tunnelling and is exactly the type of phenomenon that [image] Ashton Forbes / @justxashton : The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to three people for their work on quantum tunneling. John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis share the award. Their superconducting electrical system could tunnel from one state to another, as if it were passing straight [image] John Preskill / @preskill : The pioneering work of Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis showed that very cold electrical circuits behave in ways that exhibit fundamental principles of quantum physics. Building on this achievement, Devoret, Martinis, and many others are constructing quantum computers, powerful @ucberkeley : John Clarke, UC Berkeley emeritus professor, awarded the 2025 #NobelPrize in #Physics. The Nobel Prize committee honored Clarke “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electric circuit.” https://news.berkeley.edu/... Antonio García Martínez / @antoniogm : My former PhD advisor got the Nobel Prize (John Clarke at Berkeley). It was without question the dullest work I've ever done in life and should have left earlier. Ekaterina Zaharieva / @ezaharievaeu : Congrats to Prof. Michel H. Devoret, awarded the 2025 @NobelPrize in Physics with John Clarke and John M. Martinis! As a former #MSCA supervisor, he helped train and guide young scientists — a great example of EU support for research and innovation. 🔗 https://link.europa.eu/xn8VMn @cambridge_uni : Congratulations to alumnus John Clarke on his @NobelPrize 👏 Clarke received BA, MA, and PhD in Physics from @christs_college and @DarwinCollege Ashton Forbes / @justxashton : Nobel Prize awarded for macroscopic quantum tunneling, Netanyahu says Israel and America share weapons no other superpower has, Trump says we have weapons no one understands, and Kratsios says our technology allows us to manipulate time and space. “Ashton Forbes was right.” [video] Arindam Ghosh / @arindamphysics : In a way, second @NobelPrize to Quantum in three years. I would not have guessed it. But very happy. Shows the importance of the field, and the trajectory of technology. [image] @google : The five Nobel laureates include current Googlers: -Demis Hassabis (Chemistry, 2024) -John Jumper (Chemistry, 2024) -Michel Devoret (Physics, 2025) And Google alums: -Geoff Hinton (Physics, 2024) -John Martinis (Physics, 2025) Congratulations! Martin Bauer / @martinmbauer : The 2025 Nobel prize in physics has been awarded for pioneering the use of Josephson junctions in superconducting circuits to demonstrate and control fundamental quantum phenomena. For example collective quantum tunnelling effects for large numbers (billions) of particles @nobelprize : Today the Nobel Prize in Physics was announced for the 119th time. This year's physics prize is shared jointly by John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis. Discover more statistics on the physics prize: https://www.nobelprize.org/... [image] @yale : A 2025 #NobelPrize in Physics has been awarded to Yale Professor Emeritus of Applied Physics Michel Devoret. Congratulations! #Yale Demis Hassabis / @demishassabis : Huge congrats to Michel Devoret for the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics, and to Hartmut Neven & all our colleagues at the Google Quantum AI team, proud to be collaborating with them. This is the third Nobel associated with work done at Alphabet / Google in 2 years - not bad! 🚀🔥 @nobelprize : “I can't imagine accepting the prize without them.” In this interview shortly after the prize announcement, new physics laureate John Clarke is still stunned by the news. He praises his co-laureates John Martinis and Michel Devoret, who he worked together with at a lab in [video] Bojan Tunguz / @tunguz : It's so refreshing to see a Noble Prize in Physics be awarded for work in Physics again. @basedbeffjezos : 2024 Nobel Prize: EBMs for ML 2025 Nobel Prize: Circuit QED in superconductors Stay tuned for a paper using both of the above together... holding onto it for post-ship @euscienceinnov : Congrats to Prof. Michel H. Devoret, awarded the 2025 @NobelPrize in Physics with John Clarke and John M. Martinis! A former @MSCActions supervisor who helped train and guide young scientists, Devoret advanced work in superconducting quantum electronics. Director Michael Kratsios / @mkratsios47 : Congratulations to John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis for winning the @NobelPrize in Physics! Their brilliant work at UC Berkeley demonstrating quantum tunneling in electric circuits has been critical to our understanding of quantum computing. [image] Will Zeng / @wjzeng : The Nobel Prize in Physics has just been awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis! Awarded for showing quantum phenomena in macroscopic superconducting circuits. It is amazing working in quantum tech that we get to simultaneously work on fundamental physics Ethan Mollick / @emollick : People keep talking about innovation from Bell Labs, which produced 18 Nobel Prize winners (11 Prizes) over 100 years. But Google now has produced 6 Nobel winners (3 Prizes) in less than 30 years & was not subsidized by a government-enforced monopoly . @nobelprize : This year's physics laureates' experiments on a chip revealed quantum physics in action. A major question in physics is the maximum size of a system that can demonstrate quantum mechanical effects. The 2025 physics laureates conducted experiments with an electrical circuit in which they demonstrated both quantum mechanical tunnelling and quantised energy levels in a system big enough to be held in the hand. The transistors in computer microchips are one example of the established quantum technology that surrounds us. The 2025 #NobelPrize in Physics has provided opportunities for developing the next generation of quantum technology, including quantum cryptography, quantum computers, and quantum sensors. Max Tegmark / @tegmark : Congrats on John, John & Michel on the physics Nobel! If the Schrödinger equation of quantum mechanics holds for systems however large, then Level III Parallel Universes are real and physical reality is vastly larger than it first seems. Pedram Roushan / @pedramroushan : Michel Devoret, Chief Scientist at @GoogleQuantumAI, and John Martinis, former leader of @GoogleQuantumAI, have been awarded the @NobelPrize in Physics. History is unfolding before our eyes @googlequantumai : Congratulations to Michel Devoret, Chief Scientist at @GoogleQuantumAI, John Martinis, former hardware leader at @GoogleQuantumAI, and John Clarke on winning the @NobelPrize in Physics! The history of quantum computing is unfolding before our eyes ↓ https://blog.google/... @cern : CERN congratulates the winners of the 2025 @NobelPrize in #Physics 👏 John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis were awarded the #NobelPrize for their experiments with an electrical circuit, in which they demonstrated both quantum mechanical tunnelling and quantised @google : Congratulations to Michel Devoret, Google Quantum AI's Chief Scientist of Quantum Hardware, who was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics today. Google now has five Nobel laureates among our ranks, including three prizes in the past two years. https://blog.google/... Bluesky: @durumcrustulum.com : Nobel Prize in Physics, “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit”: — www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physi... [embedded post] Lisa Schmeiser / @lschmeiser : Warmest congrats to the latest UC Berkeley employees to nab great parking spots: www.reuters.com/science/clar... Lee West / @whodat35 : Nobel physics prize goes to pioneers of quantum mechanics. www.reuters.com/science/clar... [image] Forums: r/europe : Nobel physics prize goes to pioneers of quantum mechanics
Bloomberg
Context & Ripple Effects
The award ties Google Quantum AI to foundational circuit research through current hardware chief scientist Michel Devoret and former leader John Martinis, while also recognizing John Clarke’s academic work. It follows Google’s Willow error-correction milestone, which shifted coverage from isolated demonstrations toward the engineering requirements for useful quantum hardware.
The recognition arrives amid a field still constrained by fault tolerance and operating performance; earlier coverage stressed the gap between quantum promise and fault-tolerant machines. That makes the prize meaningful as validation of the underlying science, not as proof that commercial-scale quantum computing has arrived.
First-order effects
Devoret, Martinis and Clarke gain the field’s highest scientific recognition for circuit-level quantum discoveries; Google can point to a current and former quantum leader among the laureates.
Google Quantum AI’s research profile is strengthened alongside its hardware roadmap, while the Department of Energy’s support for the laureates’ work receives visible validation.
Second-order effects
The Nobel association can sharpen Google’s ability to recruit researchers and sustain partnerships around quantum hardware, increasing pressure on rival programs to demonstrate both scientific depth and credible engineering progress.
Customers and research partners may place more weight on error correction and hardware quality than on one-off benchmark claims, reinforcing the relevance of Google’s Willow chip progress.
Third-order effects
If major prizes and hardware advances continue to converge around circuit-based quantum research, competition may increasingly center on control systems, fabrication and error correction rather than raw qubit counts alone.
The pattern could deepen the role of large technology firms and publicly supported research institutions in quantum development, though fault tolerance remains the decisive constraint on broader economic impact.
The trend: Quantum computing is moving from a science-led research race toward an industrial contest to translate foundational physics into fault-tolerant hardware.
BREAKING NEWS The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2025 #NobelPrize in Physics to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.” [image]
Congratulations to our members John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis, winners of the 2025 @NobelPrize in Physics for their groundbreaking experiments revealing quantum tunneling in electrical circuits. A fitting recognition during the International Year of Quantum …
Congrats to Michel Devoret, John Martinis, and John Clarke on the Nobel Prize in Physics. 🔬🥼 Michel is chief scientist of hardware at our Quantum AI lab and John Martinis led the hardware team for many years. Their pioneering work in quantum mechanics in the 1980s made recent
John Clarke left Britain in 1969 Cambridge BA/PhD (1964/1968) → postdoc at UC Berkeley in 1968 → Berkeley faculty from 1969 onward; he built his entire lab and career in the US Classic case of postwar British brain drain
Google has won 3 Nobel Prizes in just 2 years: >2024: Demis Hassabis (AlphaFold), Geoff Hinton (AI) >2025: Michel & Jone (Quantum Computing) No other tech company matches Google's long-term research taste and ambition. Not Apple, Microsoft, or Amazon. The real question: when
The 2025 #NobelPrize in Physics recognises experiments that demonstrated how quantum tunnelling can be observed on a macroscopic scale, involving many particles. John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis - awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Physics - constructed an [image]
Congratulations to this year's Nobel Physics laureates — all 3 @UofCalifornia professors. Home to groundbreaking physicists, including 2 immigrants leading the world in innovation and possibility, California is proud to dream big and deliver even bigger.
Congratulations to John Clarke (formerly @BerkeleyLab), Michel Devoret, & John M. Martinis for receiving the 2025 Nobel Prize in physics! Their research on quantum effects, supported by @doescience, will set the stage for next-gen quantum tech. [image]
Google has reached a remarkable milestone not seen since the heyday of Bell Labs: 5 of its current/former employees are science Nobel laureates. This remarkable concentration of talent signals a major shift: fundamental discoveries are no longer confined to the halls of academia
When you throw a ball at a wall, you can be sure it will bounce back at you. You would be extremely surprised if the ball suddenly appeared on the other side of the wall. In quantum mechanics this type of phenomenon is called tunnelling and is exactly the type of phenomenon that …
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to three people for their work on quantum tunneling. John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis share the award. Their superconducting electrical system could tunnel from one state to another, as if it were passing straight [im…
The pioneering work of Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis showed that very cold electrical circuits behave in ways that exhibit fundamental principles of quantum physics. Building on this achievement, Devoret, Martinis, and many others are constructing quantum computers, powerful
John Clarke, UC Berkeley emeritus professor, awarded the 2025 #NobelPrize in #Physics. The Nobel Prize committee honored Clarke “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electric circuit.” https://news.berkeley.edu/...
My former PhD advisor got the Nobel Prize (John Clarke at Berkeley). It was without question the dullest work I've ever done in life and should have left earlier.
Congrats to Prof. Michel H. Devoret, awarded the 2025 @NobelPrize in Physics with John Clarke and John M. Martinis! As a former #MSCA supervisor, he helped train and guide young scientists — a great example of EU support for research and innovation. 🔗 https://link.europa.eu/xn8VM…
Nobel Prize awarded for macroscopic quantum tunneling, Netanyahu says Israel and America share weapons no other superpower has, Trump says we have weapons no one understands, and Kratsios says our technology allows us to manipulate time and space. “Ashton Forbes was right.” [vide…
In a way, second @NobelPrize to Quantum in three years. I would not have guessed it. But very happy. Shows the importance of the field, and the trajectory of technology. [image]
The five Nobel laureates include current Googlers: -Demis Hassabis (Chemistry, 2024) -John Jumper (Chemistry, 2024) -Michel Devoret (Physics, 2025) And Google alums: -Geoff Hinton (Physics, 2024) -John Martinis (Physics, 2025) Congratulations!
The 2025 Nobel prize in physics has been awarded for pioneering the use of Josephson junctions in superconducting circuits to demonstrate and control fundamental quantum phenomena. For example collective quantum tunnelling effects for large numbers (billions) of particles
Today the Nobel Prize in Physics was announced for the 119th time. This year's physics prize is shared jointly by John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis. Discover more statistics on the physics prize: https://www.nobelprize.org/... [image]
Huge congrats to Michel Devoret for the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics, and to Hartmut Neven & all our colleagues at the Google Quantum AI team, proud to be collaborating with them. This is the third Nobel associated with work done at Alphabet / Google in 2 years - not bad! 🚀🔥
“I can't imagine accepting the prize without them.” In this interview shortly after the prize announcement, new physics laureate John Clarke is still stunned by the news. He praises his co-laureates John Martinis and Michel Devoret, who he worked together with at a lab in [video]
2024 Nobel Prize: EBMs for ML 2025 Nobel Prize: Circuit QED in superconductors Stay tuned for a paper using both of the above together... holding onto it for post-ship
Congrats to Prof. Michel H. Devoret, awarded the 2025 @NobelPrize in Physics with John Clarke and John M. Martinis! A former @MSCActions supervisor who helped train and guide young scientists, Devoret advanced work in superconducting quantum electronics.
Congratulations to John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis for winning the @NobelPrize in Physics! Their brilliant work at UC Berkeley demonstrating quantum tunneling in electric circuits has been critical to our understanding of quantum computing. [image]
The Nobel Prize in Physics has just been awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis! Awarded for showing quantum phenomena in macroscopic superconducting circuits. It is amazing working in quantum tech that we get to simultaneously work on fundamental physics
People keep talking about innovation from Bell Labs, which produced 18 Nobel Prize winners (11 Prizes) over 100 years. But Google now has produced 6 Nobel winners (3 Prizes) in less than 30 years & was not subsidized by a government-enforced monopoly .
This year's physics laureates' experiments on a chip revealed quantum physics in action. A major question in physics is the maximum size of a system that can demonstrate quantum mechanical effects. The 2025 physics laureates conducted experiments with an electrical circuit in w…
Congrats on John, John & Michel on the physics Nobel! If the Schrödinger equation of quantum mechanics holds for systems however large, then Level III Parallel Universes are real and physical reality is vastly larger than it first seems.
Michel Devoret, Chief Scientist at @GoogleQuantumAI, and John Martinis, former leader of @GoogleQuantumAI, have been awarded the @NobelPrize in Physics. History is unfolding before our eyes
Congratulations to Michel Devoret, Chief Scientist at @GoogleQuantumAI, John Martinis, former hardware leader at @GoogleQuantumAI, and John Clarke on winning the @NobelPrize in Physics! The history of quantum computing is unfolding before our eyes ↓ https://blog.google/...
CERN congratulates the winners of the 2025 @NobelPrize in #Physics 👏 John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis were awarded the #NobelPrize for their experiments with an electrical circuit, in which they demonstrated both quantum mechanical tunnelling and quantised
Congratulations to Michel Devoret, Google Quantum AI's Chief Scientist of Quantum Hardware, who was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics today. Google now has five Nobel laureates among our ranks, including three prizes in the past two years. https://blog.google/...
Nobel Prize in Physics, “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit”: — www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physi... [embedded post]