STOCKHOLM — (AP) — Three scientists shared this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for their work in quantum information science with important applications, such as in encryption.
Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger were cited by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for their discovery of the way particles called photons can be connected or “entangled” with each other even when they are far apart.
Nobel Committee member Eva Olsson said: “Quantum information science is a dynamic and rapidly developing field. It has broad and potential implications in areas such as secure information transmission, quantum computing and sensing technologies.”
“Its origins can be traced back to quantum mechanics,” she said. “Its predictions open the door to another world, and it shakes the foundations on which we interpret our measurements.”
Zeilinger said in a news conference by phone after the announcement that he was “still a little shocked” to hear that he had won the award.
“But it’s a very positive shock,” said Zellinger, 77, who works at the University of Vienna.
Clauser, Aspect and Zeilinger have dominated Nobel Prize speculation for over a decade. In 2010, they were awarded the Wolf Prize in Israel, considered a precursor to the Nobel Prize.
While physicists often solve problems that at first glance seem far removed from everyday problems—tiny particles and vast mysteries of space and time—their research lays the foundation for many practical applications of science.
Last year, the prize was awarded to three scientists – Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi – whose work has helped explain and predict complex natural forces, thereby expanding our understanding of climate change.
The week-long Nobel Prize announcement kicked off on Monday, with Swedish scientist Svante Paabo winning the Medicine Prize for unraveling the secrets of Neanderthal DNA that provide key insights into our immune system.
They continue chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday, and the Economics Prize will be announced in October. 10.
A cash prize of SEK 10 million (nearly $900,000) will be awarded on December 12. 10. The money comes from the legacy of the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895.
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