This is a special episode where we take a short detour from our Quantum Technology Series (check it out here) and step into the Nobel Prize Series. Here’s my take on this year’s physics prize — and as always, take it with a pinch of salt!

Official statement from the Nobel Committee:

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 was awarded jointly 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"

There are several important ideas packed in the above statement — macroscopic, quantum, quantum tunnelling, energy quantization, and electric circuits. Let’s take a moment to understand each of these concepts in detail before we connect them all together.