#quantum-mechanics

#quantum-mechanics

The Nobel prize in physics 2025 has been awarded to British, French and American scientists for their work on quantum mechanics. John Clarke, a British physicist based at the University of California at Berkeley, Michel Devoret, a French physicist based at Yale University, and John Martinis, of the University of California Santa Barbara, share the 11m Swedish kronor (about 871,400) prize announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.

Quantum mechanics is unquestionably a robust and successful theory - so far, all its predictions have held, and scientists can build powerful technologies based on it. Yet, understanding what it tells us about the nature of reality and how we experience it has proven tricky. Physicists and philosophers have been grappling with it for a century, ironing out some of the early ambiguities, but some conceptual problems remain.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of quantum mechanics, hundreds of researchers gathered on Heligoland, the site where Heisenberg developed his groundbreaking theory in 1925.

Without proper care, individual pieces begin to show signs of decay, affecting both their own state and the broader network of devices in the series.