Dr. Michel Devoret wins
Nobel Prize for his
contributions to
quantum physics
I don’t often receive personal whiteboard lectures on quantum mechanics. But when I do, I make sure it’s from a Nobel-Prize-winning Yale professor 😆 Congratulations, Dr. Michel Devoret! 🍾🥂🎉
From the the Nobel Foundation’s official announcement: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 was awarded jointly to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.” The photo above was snapped by Dr. Florian Carle, Managing Director of Yale University’s Quantum Institute (YQI), during my 2022–2023 artist residency at YQI. Dr. Devoret (on the left) was patiently explaining to me (on the right, back to camera) the graphical power of Feynman diagrams as a logical reasoning device. I am not a physicist, and had little business receiving such focussed attention—exactly one of the joys of participating in Florian’s residency program.
The breakthrough
Here’s a quick explainer video ☝️ from IBM’s Chris Porter that breaks down what this prize-winning work was, and how it has shaped the emerging field of quantum computing. (Particularly quantum computers built from superconducting qubits.)