Three U.S.-based scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for their discoveries in quantum mechanics.
The award was given to Briton John Clarke, Frenchman Michel H. Devoret and American John M. Martinis for “experiments that revealed quantum physics in action,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
Martinis is based at the University of California, Santa Barbara, as is Devoret, who also conducted his research at Yale. Clarke conducted his at the University of California, Berkeley.
In their news release, the Nobel Assembly said that the prize was awarded for “experiments with an electrical circuit in which they demonstrated both quantum mechanical tunneling and quantized energy levels in a system big enough to be held in the hand.”
