Alice & Bob, a global pioneer in fault-tolerant quantum computing, proudly celebrates the recognition of Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis as recipients of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the prize to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.” This distinction honours their groundbreaking contributions to superconducting qubit technology, which lie at the heart of today’s most advanced quantum computers, including the cat qubit developed by Alice & Bob.
Michel Devoret has played a pivotal role in the development of superconducting qubits. He co-invented the cat qubit, the flagship technology of Alice & Bob, which has become a foundation of the company’s revolutionary progress in quantum computing. Prior to his work with Google, Michel Devoret provided guidance to Alice & Bob’s co-founders and made significant contributions during the company’s formative stages.
“Michel’s scientific integrity, passion, and optimism, alongside the scientific breakthroughs he and his colleagues pioneered, has shaped much of the quantum computing landscape we navigate today,” said Benjamin Huard, who co-founded in 2008 the Quantum Electronic Group at ENS with Michel Devoret and is one of Alice & Bob scientific board members. “Their work did not only trigger superconducting qubit research, but demonstrated that something as macroscopic as an electrical circuit obeys quantum physics.”
John M. Martinis, also among this year’s laureates, currently serves as one of Alice & Bob’s consultative board members. For the past two years, he has been advising the company on vital scientific issues alongside three other leading figures in quantum computing—David DiVincenzo, Yasunobu Nakamura and Daniel Gottesman—sharing his unmatched expertise as the field continues to evolve.
The awarding of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics underscores the immense significance of superconducting qubits such as Alice & Bob’s cat qubit, now a central contender in the pursuit of practical quantum computing. The achievements of Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis not only initiated a new era of quantum technology but also confirmed the theory that electrical circuits subjected to quantum effects could fundamentally reshape our understanding of energy and matter.
“This award is a recognition of a decades-long scientific journey that has been made possible by the brilliant minds at the intersection of theoretical and experimental quantum physics,” said Raphael Lescanne, CTO and Co-Founder of Alice & Bob. “We are entering an era where the seminal work of these pioneers is becoming a true computing innovation.”
As quantum computing continues to advance, poised to transform research in fields from materials science to condensed matter and high-energy physics, Alice & Bob remains dedicated to expanding upon the foundational discoveries of Clarke, Devoret, Martinis, and their collaborators.
