X, born in the UK, was conferred the Nobel Prize in 2025. He was a professor in an American university when this prize was announ…

Question

X, born in the UK, was conferred the Nobel Prize in 2025. He was a professor in an American university when this prize was announced. Identify X:

1. A. Michel H. Devoret
2. B. Richard Robson
3. C. John Clarke (Correct answer)
4. D. Joel Mokyr

Correct Answer

Option C — C

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is Option C.

Key Points

• X was born in the UK and was a professor at an American university when the prize was announced — this is John Clarke, awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics.
• Clarke was born in Cambridge, England, and is an emeritus professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley.
• He shared the 2025 Physics Nobel with Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis *'for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.'*
• the discovery concerns quantum tunnelling at a macroscopic scale in superconducting circuits — foundational to superconducting qubits and quantum computing.

Additional Information

• Michel H. Devoret (A) — a co-winner, but born in Paris, France, not the UK.
• Richard Robson (B) — associated with chemistry/MOFs, not this prize.
• Joel Mokyr (D) — an economic historian; the 2025 Economics laureate, not Physics, and not UK-born in this framing.

Exam Tip

• for Nobel questions, pin down the discriminator in the stem — here 'born in the UK' + 'American university' uniquely identifies Clarke among the co-winners.