UCSB Faculty Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics 2025
UC Santa Barbara physicists John Martinis and Michel Devoret have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Excerpt from the UCSB Current
UC Santa Barbara physicists John Martinis and Michel Devoret have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics. Selected for the honor alongside UC Berkeley physicist and former advisor John Clarke, they were lauded for work that, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, “revealed quantum physics in action.”
“It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the way that century-old quantum mechanics continually offers new surprises,” said Olle Erikkson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics. “It is also enormously useful, as quantum mechanics is the foundation of all digital technology.”
These findings have opened the door to major advancements in technology — technology as ubiquitous as our cell phones, data storage devices and LED lighting, while also making possible future breakthroughs in realms such as cryptography.
“What a profound thrill, and a moment of exceptional pride for our campus, to congratulate our UC Santa Barbara professors John Martinis and Michel Devoret on winning this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics, alongside UC Berkeley's John Clarke," said UCSB Chancellor Dennis Assanis. "Their successful efforts to build an electronic circuit with superconductors and measure their properties in the 1980s has had a transformational and lasting influence on today’s technology, paving the way for components that we find in everyday devices such as our cellphones, as well as for major advancements in communication, computing and sensing. The impact of their work cannot be overstated. We look forward to celebrating their accomplishments.”
Image by: ©Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
