This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics went to researchers in the field of quantum mechanics the science that describes the behavior of subatomic particles, i.e. physics at the smallest possible scales.
The prize goes to the Frenchman Alain Aspect, the American John Clauser and the Austrian Anton Zeilinger. The researchers will share the prize money of 10 million Swedish kroner (4.7 million R$).
The work of these scientists could pave the way for a new generation of powerful computers and telecommunications systems that are unhackable.
This year’s three laureates have performed groundbreaking experiments involving entangled quantum states, in which two subatomic particles behave as one, even when separated.
“Quantum information science is a vibrant and rapidly evolving field,” said Eva Olsson, a member of the Nobel Committee on Physics. “It has farreaching and potential implications in areas such as secure information transmission, quantum computing and detection technology.”
Alain Aspect, 75, is a member of the Université ParisSaclay and the École Polytechnique, Palaiseau. John Clauser, 79, runs his own company in California. Anton Zeilinger, 77, is affiliated with the University of Vienna. The same three men won the Wolf Prize together in 2010.
Anton Zeilinger got a call early in the morning to say he had won. “I’m still a bit shocked, but it’s a very positive surprise,” he said.
Aspect, Clauser and Zeilinger were this year’s winners
Image: Nobel Prize
entanglement
Quantum mechanics describes the behavior of subatomic particles. It is an area of research that began in the early 20th century.
One of the areas of quantum mechanics is “entanglement,” where two or more quantum particles usually photons, the particles of light can remain tightly coupled if they are very far apart and not physically connected.
Your common state can be your energy or your spin. It’s a strange phenomenon that Albert Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.”
The theoretical basis was developed in the 1960s by the Northern Irish physicist John Stewart Bell. But it was Aspect, Clauser and Zeilinger who ran the experiments to show that the phenomenon was real and could have practical applications.
“I’ve always been interested in quantum mechanics since I first read about it,” Zeilinger told BBC News. “And I was really impressed with some of the theoretical predictions because they didn’t fit the usual intuitions that you might have.”
Two practical applications for entanglement research have recently received much attention. One of them is quantum computing, which promises a giant leap in the ability of machines to solve complex problems. And the other lies in encryption, the secure encryption of information. Exploiting quantum entanglement will make it impossible for third parties to eavesdrop on private communications.
“This is useful for the military and banks etc. when communicating securely,” said John Clauser. “The biggest application I know of comes from the Chinese, who launched a satellite a few years ago, which they use for secure communications over thousands of kilometers.”
Professor Tim Spiller, from the University of York, UK, said Tuesday’s award winners were worthy winners who helped open up possibilities for an exciting future.
“Quantum technologies have been explored significantly in the UK and many other countries over the last 10 years. We’ve known about entanglement for a lot longer, but the investment was made in the last 10 years. And now there are one or two commercial products, new technologies that you can buy that take advantage of different aspects of this quantum resource, and we hope there will be many more in the future,” he told BBC News.
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three researchers who have advanced our understanding of complex systems particularly the Earth’s climate.
On Monday, the Nobel Committee awarded the Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Svante Paabo of Sweden for his work on human evolution.
Former Nobel Laureate in Physics
- 2021 Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi received the award for advancing our understanding of complex systems such as the Earth’s climate.
- 2020 Sir Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez received the award for their work on the nature of black holes.
- 2019 James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz shared the award for groundbreaking discoveries about the universe.
- 2018 Donna Strickland, Arthur Ashkin and Gerard Mourou were recognized for their discoveries in the field of laser physics.
- 2017 Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry Barish have won the prize for discovering gravitational waves.
- 2016 David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz shared the award for their work on rare states of matter.
- 2015 Takaaki Kajita and Arthur McDonald received the award for discovering that neutrinos switch between different states