What happens when you run full speed at a wall 10,000 times thicker than your body? It doesn't take a quantum physicist to predict the outcome probably involves a trip to the hospital. But if you were, say, a proton rather than a person, you could get a different result entirely. That's because subatomic particles can sometimes burrow straight through such barriers, in a phenomenon known as quantum tunneling.
Our top story this week tells the story of how three scientists—John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis—first brought this bizarre effect from the quantum realm into the far larger scales of our everyday world. By herding multitudes of electrons through custom-built superconducting circuits in a series of experiments in the 1980s, these researchers showed how quantum tunneling can also occur en masse within devices large enough to hold in the palm of your hand. And because evolutions of their superconducting circuits also made for handy qubits, the feat helped spark what's now the multibillion-dollar emerging industry of quantum computing.
For their work demonstrating that quantum tunneling really can be a big deal, Clarke, Devoret and Martinis received this year's Nobel Prize in Physics. Beyond the shiny medals and collective 11-million kronor ($1.1 million) award the trio will share, the prize is also a fitting "birthday present" of sorts for the theory of quantum mechanics itself, which turned 100 this year.
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Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time.
—Lee Billings
