Nobel Prize for Physics awarded to three scientists for proving Google’s quantum computer really works

Three researchers who proved that Google’s Sycamore quantum computer really does work have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, the Nobel Committee announced Tuesday.<br><br>The prize was awarded to physicist John Martinis from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and to physicist and Google researcher Craig Gidney, an engineer on Google’s quantum computing team. Boris Altshuler, who is a theoretical physicist, was awarded the prize for his work, which made it possible to prove the performance of large quantum computers.<br><br>The Nobel Committee said that in 2019, Martinis and Gidney were able to prove that Google’s quantum computer Sycamore was performing calculations that are virtually unsolvable for a regular computer.<br><br>The committee said that Martinis and his colleagues were able to demonstrate that the quantum computer can solve a math problem — make a random number sequence generated by a quantum computer that a regular computer cannot reproduce — that is too difficult for a classical computer to reproduce.<br><br>Nobel laureates are announced every October, as the award winners are chosen by a committee working in secret without publicly disclosing who the nominees are. The prize is awarded to up to three people each year, and the money is split between the winners. This year, the three winners will share a prize of 10 million Swedish kronor (around $1 million USD).<br><br>The prize goes to scientists who have made the most important discoveries or inventions in their field, and is awarded in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace.