The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2022 to Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger

“for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science”

Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger have each conducted groundbreaking experiments using entangled quantum states, where two particles behave like a single unit even when they are separated. Their results have cleared the way for new technology based upon quantum information.

The ineffable effects of quantum mechanics are starting to find applications. There is now a large field of research that includes quantum computers, quantum networks and secure quantum encrypted communication.

One key factor in this development is how quantum mechanics allows two or more particles to exist in what is called an entangled state. What happens to one of the particles in an entangled pair determines what happens to the other particle, even if they are far apart.

• The youngest Nobel Laureate in Physics is Lawrence Bragg, who was 25 years old.
• Two women Nobel Laureate in Physics are :  Marie Curie and Maria Goeppert-Mayer.
• John Bardeen is the only person who has received the Nobel Prize in Physics twice. Marie Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize twice, once in Physics and once in Chemistry.

What is a quantum

A quantum (plural: quanta) is the smallest discrete unit of a phenomenon. For example, a quantum of light is a photon, and a quantum of electricity is an electron. Quantum comes from Latin, meaning “an amount” or “how much?” If something is quantifiable, then it can be measured.

What is quantum in physics The modern use of quantum in physics was coined by Max Planck in 1901. He was trying to explain black-body radiation and how objects changed color after being heated. Instead of assuming that the energy was emitted in a constant wave, he posed that the energy was emitted in discrete packets, or bundles. These were termed quanta of energy. This led to him discovering Planck’s constant, which is a fundamental universal value