![\"Nobel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/99caf76940c28ae8449b293a242dd1d0_INT30894224-1-960x600.jpg\"\/)
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A handout photo made available by the University of California at Santa Barbara shows John Martinis, the 2025 co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, in Santa Barbara, California, on October 7. [Jeff Liang\/EPA]<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw all these emails from Greece,\u201d says John Martinis, who won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics this week. \u201cAnd I thought, did I do something wrong?\u201d he adds with a quip.<\/p>\n
That was his first reaction when Greek journalists started contacting him, assuming he had Greek roots. \u201cIt turns out that I\u2019m not of Greek-American origin, but Croatian,\u201d he says. \u201cIs this still a noteworthy interview?\u201d<\/p>\n
The confusion began after The Greek Herald, an Australian diaspora website, described Martinis as \u201cGreek-American,\u201d likely because of the Greek-sounding ending of his surname. The claim was later picked up by several Greek media outlets, including Kathimerini. \u201cGreek-American John Martinis to lead Australia\u2019s quantum computer future,\u201d the site wrote in 2020. No other source mentioned Greek ancestry, but the idea of another \u201cGreek\u201d Nobel laureate was enough for the story to spread quickly \u2013 even if the truth was more complicated.<\/p>\n
Still, Martinis doesn\u2019t completely rule out a distant connection. \u201cThe fact that my father\u2019s name comes from an island kind of in the middle of the Adriatic \u2013 and given that people have moved up and down that coast throughout history \u2013 leaves open the possibility [that we might have Greek roots],\u201d he says from his home in Santa Barbara. \u201cBut we\u2019re talking about 400 years back.\u201d He adds: \u201cI\u2019m glad that people are proud of their culture, and even if they emigrate to the United States, they\u2019re still part of that culture. That\u2019s really nice. I like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martinis, who shared the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics with John Clarke and Michel Devoret for their work on macroscopic tunneling and energy quantization in electrical circuits, says he never chased recognition. \u201cYou do science for the joy of discovery \u2013 giving a talk, talking about new data, having new, exciting data,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s your reward. I think it\u2019s a mistake to think you need this prize for doing it. But it\u2019s very nice, to tell you the truth. I very much appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pioneer in quantum computing, Martinis believes researchers are \u201cvery close\u201d to building a practical quantum computer. \u201cComputers have become better and more powerful,\u201d he says. \u201cIf we have a new type of computer that\u2019s very powerful, we\u2019ll have some initial applications \u2013 and then who knows what will happen? The possibilities are unlimited.\u201d<\/p>\n
He expects early uses to involve \u201csimulations of atoms and molecules \u2013 maybe new materials, new transistor designs \u2013 things that could revolutionize medicine and manufacturing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martinis also hopes such advances will help society address material shortages. \u201cRight now, we can build products, but many require exotic materials that just can\u2019t scale,\u201d he explains. \u201cAn example is batteries with cobalt. There\u2019s not enough cobalt to electrify the world. But if we use more common, cheaper materials \u2013 and design them right \u2013 that would really benefit society.\u201d<\/p>\n
On concerns that quantum computers could break existing encryption systems, he\u2019s unfazed. \u201cIn cryptography, there\u2019s a long history of people inventing codes, and they have a certain lifetime before you can break them,\u201d he says. \u201cQuantum computers breaking existing codes is just another part of that story. People are already working on ways to improve cryptography so that it\u2019s not a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having worked in academia and industry \u2013 from the University of California, Santa Barbara, to Google\u2019s Quantum AI Lab \u2013 Martinis says he\u2019s now happiest running his own small company. \u201cI just didn\u2019t fit into Google anymore,\u201d he admits. \u201cBy forming my own company and working with a few people, we just rethought everything. We came up with a new business plan that I think is much more likely to work. It\u2019s the right way to do it. As a scientist, I can think more broadly about what we have to do, without worrying about the politics of a big company.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A handout photo made available by the University of California at Santa Barbara shows John Martinis, the 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[40280,199,79,1247],"class_list":{"0":"post-219392","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-in-depth","9":"tag-physics","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-society"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}