The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded on Tuesday to John Clarke (1942), Michel H. Devoret (1953) and John Martinis (1958) for their research into the properties of quantum mechanics on a human scale. With a series of experiments, the three showed that the bizarre properties of not visible quantum particles can be made tangible on a bowl that is visible with the naked eye.
The three, of whom Clarke was the research leader, Devoret the postdoctoral researcher and Martinis de PhD student, in 1984 and 1985 provided two major scientific breakthroughs at the University of California, who now deliver the Nobel Prize. They built an electric circuit with two so -called super -conductors – material through which power without resistance moves – with a piece of material in between that does not let any power through.
Due to a phenomenon called ‘Quantum tunnelen’, the three still managed to generate electrical voltage between the two systems. With quantum tunnelen, a particle can go through a barrier, while physically it does not have enough energy for that.
John Clarke, who was on the phone during the announcement, called the prize “the surprise of my life, to express it mildly”. The three receive 11 million Swedish crowns (about 1 million euros) in prize money, which they have to distribute among themselves.
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