Opinion This year, Physics Nobel prize reflects a broader transformation in the field
The boundaries between pure and applied physics have become porous. Today’s fundamental research is often motivated by technological possibilities, while technological breakthroughs frequently emerge from deep theoretical insights
Nobel Prize in Physics 2025: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis. (Image: @NobelPrize/X) 
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The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics tells a remarkable story about bridging two seemingly incompatible worlds. When the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that John Clarke, Michel H Devoret, and John M Martinis would share this year’s prize “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit,” they honoured work that transformed quantum mechanics from a microscopic curiosity into a tangible, engineered reality.
For most of the 20th century, quantum mechanics was the domain of the impossibly small — individual atoms, electrons, and photons dancing to rules that defied everyday intuition. Particles could exist in multiple states simultaneously. They could tunnel through barriers as if passing through walls. Energy came in discrete packets, not continuous flows. These were phenomena you couldn’t see, touch, or directly experience. They were mathematical abstractions that, while experimentally verified, remained divorced from the world we inhabit.
The laureates changed that fundamental assumption. Through meticulous experimental work with superconducting circuits, they demonstrated that quantum behaviour isn’t confined to the atomic realm. Their circuits, large enough to hold in one’s hand, exhibited the same bizarre quantum properties that physicists had only observed in individual particles. A macroscopic electrical system could tunnel from one state to another. It could absorb energy only in quantised amounts, refusing intermediate values like a child accepting only whole cookies, never fractions.
This discovery was more than an academic curiosity. The Nobel Committee explicitly noted that this year’s prize “has provided opportunities for developing the next generation of quantum technology, including quantum cryptography, quantum computers, and quantum sensors.” In essence, the laureates built a bridge between quantum theory and quantum engineering, opening pathways that the technology industry is now racing to explore.
The significance of their work becomes clearer when we consider the trajectory of quantum computing. Today’s quantum computers — still experimental but growing more capable — rely fundamentally on the principles that Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis helped establish. Superconducting qubits, one of the leading platforms for quantum computation, are direct descendants of the circuits these researchers pioneered. By showing that macroscopic quantum systems could be controlled and manipulated, they provided the conceptual and practical foundation for an entire technological revolution.
What’s particularly striking about the 2025 prize is what it reveals about the evolution of the Nobel Prize in Physics itself. Alfred Nobel’s will specified that the prize should honour discoveries of “the greatest benefit to humankind”. For decades, physics prizes tended to recognise fundamental theoretical insights or experimental discoveries that expanded our understanding of nature’s basic laws — quarks, cosmic microwave background radiation, the Higgs boson, gravitational waves. These were triumphs of pure science, often with technological applications emerging only decades later, if at all.
Recently, however, the prize has increasingly acknowledged work that sits at the intersection of fundamental physics and transformative technology. Last year’s prize to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for foundational work in artificial neural networks signalled this shift. This year’s award continues that trend. The laureates didn’t discover a new fundamental particle or force. Instead, they demonstrated how known quantum principles could be manifested in engineered systems, deliberately designed for future applications.
This evolution reflects a broader transformation in physics itself. The 21st century has seen the discipline increasingly engaged with emergent technologies — quantum computing, advanced materials, artificial intelligence, and complex systems. The boundaries between pure and applied physics have become porous. Today’s fundamental research is often motivated by technological possibilities, while technological breakthroughs frequently emerge from deep theoretical insights.
2025 is the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, marking a century since the development of modern quantum mechanics. The field has reached a critical inflection point. Quantum computers, while still limited, are beginning to tackle problems beyond the reach of classical machines. Quantum sensors promise unprecedented precision in measuring everything from gravitational fields to biological processes. Quantum cryptography offers theoretically unbreakable security.
These developments trace their lineage to the work honoured at the Nobel. By showing that quantum behaviour could be engineered rather than merely observed, Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis helped transform quantum mechanics from a theory about nature into a toolkit for building new technologies. As quantum technologies mature, they promise to revolutionise computation, communication, sensing, and simulation. Drug discovery could be accelerated by quantum simulations of molecular interactions. Financial modeling could incorporate quantum algorithms that classical computers cannot execute. Materials science could be transformed by the ability to simulate quantum systems directly. The exact contours of this quantum future remain uncertain, but its foundation rests on principles these three physicists helped establish.
India, too, is positioning itself strategically in this quantum race. The country’s National Quantum Mission, launched in 2023 with a budget of Rs 6,000 crore running through 2031, represents an ambitious bet on quantum technologies becoming critical to national competitiveness. The mission encompasses quantum computing, communication, sensing, and materials research. Recent developments underscore India’s growing capabilities: A partnership between IBM, TCS, and the Government of Andhra Pradesh to build India’s largest quantum computer at Quantum Valley Tech Park in Amaravati; DRDO’s establishment of a Quantum Technology Research Centre in Delhi for defense applications; and indigenous satellite-based quantum communication systems being developed by Indian firms.
While startups like QNu Labs have made impressive strides — particularly in quantum-safe cryptography and quantum key distribution systems that have completed trials with the Indian Army — the ecosystem is nascent. India currently has approximately 53 quantum technology startups, but the gap between India’s capabilities and those of global leaders like the United States, China, and Europe remains significant. To truly capitalise on the opportunities that Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis’s foundational work has created, India must dramatically scale its research infrastructure, attract and retain top talent in quantum physics and engineering, and foster deeper collaboration between academia, industry, and government. The challenge isn’t just developing quantum technologies but building the entire pipeline—from fundamental research to commercial applications — that can sustain long-term competitiveness in this transformative field.
As quantum technologies continue their rapid development, we will likely look back at this prize as marking a pivotal moment: When the broader world recognised that quantum mechanics had evolved from a scientific revolution into a technological one, with implications we are only beginning to explore.
The writer is defence and tech policy adviser and former country head of General Dynamics
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