John Clarke, Michel H Devoret and John M Martinis won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for research on the weird world of sub-atomic quantum tunnelling that advances the power of everyday digital communications and computing.

One of the winners said quantum mechanics research already has wound up in our everyday communications. Speaking from his cellphone, Clarke said: “One of the underlying reasons that cellphones work is because of all this work.”

Clarke (83) conducted his research at the University of California, Berkeley; Martinis (67) at the University of California, Santa Barbara; and Devoret (72) is at Yale and also at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Clarke, who spearheaded the research team, said he was “pleased to receive this prize” alongside his two colleague

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