Nobel Prize in Physics for inventor of quantum chips

This year's Nobel Prize in Physics goes to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis from the University of California at Berkeley and Santa Barbara “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electric circuit”.

The prize recognizes the US researchers' contributions to the development of quantum mechanical electrical circuits, which form the basis for various quantum technologies such as quantum cryptography, quantum sensors, and quantum computing.

Nobel Prize in Physics for AI 2024

Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Hopfield from Princeton University and Geoffrey Hinton from the University of Toronto for their discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.

Hopfield and Hinton used tools from physics to develop methods that helped lay the foundation for today's powerful machine learning. Machine learning based on artificial neural networks is currently revolutionizing science, technology, and everyday life.

Since the first prize was awarded in 1901, the Nobel Prize in Physics has now been awarded 119 times. A total of 229 different people have been honored, including five women. Only the US physicist John Bardeen has been honored twice in the physics category.

Nobel Prize in Medicine for immunologist

The Nobel Prize winners for physiology or medicine were announced on Monday. This year, the prize went to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi “for their discoveries on peripheral immune tolerance.” The work of the three researchers explains how the immune system is prevented from attacking its body and opens up new ways of treating autoimmune diseases and cancer. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be awarded tomorrow, Wednesday.

The Nobel Prizes go back to the dynamite inventor and prize donor Alfred Nobel (1833–1896). According to his will, the prizes are intended to honor those who have made the greatest contribution to humanity in the respective prize categories over the past year. The physics category is the first that Nobel mentioned in his will.

This year, all Nobel Prizes are endowed with eleven million Swedish kronor (approximately one million Euro) per category. If several laureates are honored, the prize money is divided among them. Traditionally, the prizes are presented at a ceremony in Stockholm (or the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo) on the anniversary of Nobel's death, 10 December.

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(spa)