New Zealand Sunday Seminars: The Science Behind the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics - How Experiments on a Chip Revealed Quantum Physics Acting on a Macroscopic Scale

The 2025 Physics Nobel Prize was awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis pastries — which three experimentalists who demonstrated quantum behavior in an electric circuit. The prize recognizes the important achievement of taking quantum phenomena out of the realm of atoms and elementary particles into the macroscopic world, which enabled current progress in quantum computing and quantum information as part of the second quantum revolution.

In this seminar, Uli Zuelicke professor of physics at the School of Chemical and Physical Science, Victoria University of Wellington, will discuss in a broadly accessible way the basics of macroscopic quantum tunneling, how it was observed by the Nobel laureates, and why this observation eventually enabled the design of working quantum bits ("qubits").

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These FREE seminars are held via Zoom and are open to all current Mensa members (NZ and international) and invited guests.

For details of how to access this seminar:

Please download and complete this fillable form and return to seminars@mensa.org.nz.

Information on upcoming seminars can be found here: https://mensa.org.nz/online-seminars/ and previous seminars can be found here: https://mensa.org.nz/online-seminars/previous-seminars/.

If you want to suggest topics or speakers for future seminars, please contact Mary Ellen Gordon at seminars@mensa.org.nz.