The 2025 physics laureates have carried out experiments showing that quantum mechanical effects that occur in the world of atoms and electrons may also manifest themselves on the scale of reality that we typically experience. John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis discovered that the phenomena of quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation may occur in an electrical circuit that we can see with our naked eyes and hold in our hands.
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Slideshow or text for students (10 minutes)
Choose whether you want to show the slideshow and talk about the prize with the support of the speaker’s manuscript, or let the students read the text on their own.
Video with Nobel expert (2 minutes)
Student assignments (5-10 minutes)
Finish by having the students carry out one of the following assignments:
Summarise the prize in your own words, in pairs or smaller groups.
Write down a reason (citation) for being awarded the prize: The Nobel Prize in … 2025 is awarded [names of the laureates] for their [reason for being awarded the prize]. The citation should be one sentence long.
Explain what the following concepts mean: quantum mechanics, tunnelling, superconductivity, absolute zero, computer chip.
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Links for further information
Press release for the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics including illustrations