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 their work on “the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electric circuit.”
Their research has played a key role in the development of quantum computers, which are expected to impact fields such as drug discovery, cybersecurity, agriculture, and energy.
John Clarke is an emeritus professor at UC Berkeley. Michel H. Devoret holds positions at UC Santa Barbara and Yale University. John M. Martinis received his doctorate from UC Berkeley and is an emeritus professor 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 that was broadcast during the press conference in Stockholm. He added that he had not considered his work as being worthy of a Nobel Prize.
UC President James B. Milliken commented on the significance of the award: “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 the university’s history with the Nobel Prize: “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 research began in the mid-1980s at UC Berkeley when Devoret was a postdoctoral researcher and Martinis was a graduate student in Clarke’s laboratory. They investigated quantum tunneling—a phenomenon where particles pass through barriers—at a scale larger than previously observed by demonstrating this effect in a superconducting electrical circuit.
This foundational work established principles for superconducting qubits used in most current quantum computers. Irfan Siddiqi, chair of UC Berkeley’s Department of Physics and former postdoctoral fellow in Devoret’s Yale lab, described its importance: “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 is also known for developing ultrasensitive detectors called SQUIDs (superconducting quantum interference devices), which have been used in various scientific applications including geophysics and biosensing. He continues to collaborate with experiments searching for dark matter candidates using technology he helped develop.
Martinis led efforts at Google Quantum AI to build a quantum computer capable of solving problems previously thought unsolvable by classical computers. He later joined Silicon Quantum Computing in Australia and co-founded Qolab.
“It is a great honor to be awarded the Nobel prize,” Martinis said. “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 earned his doctorate from University of Paris, Orsay, before working in Clarke’s lab at UC Berkeley and later holding positions in France and at Yale University before joining UC Santa Barbara.
Berkeley Lab Director Mike Witherell remarked on Clarke’s achievements: “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… This is great news.”
Olle Eriksson, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, highlighted this year’s award coinciding with 100 years since quantum mechanics was first described: “It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the way that century-old quantum mechanics continually offers new surprises… It is also enormously useful, as quantum mechanics is the foundation of all digital technology.”
This marks only the second time three University of California faculty members have received a Nobel Prize in one category; in 1995 three UC Irvine scientists shared the chemistry prize for work on ozone-depleting chemicals.
Earlier this week Frederick J. Ramsdell—an alumnus of UC San Diego and UCLA—was among those awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries related to human immunity.
Additional coverage can be found from UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkeley, and Berkeley Lab.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
