In the span of four decades, quantum computation has evolved from an intellectual curiosity to a potentially realizable technology. John M. Martinis will describe his thesis work on macroscopic quantum tunneling and energy-level quantization that led to the Nobel Prize, as well as several other important experiments that advanced superconducting qubits. Nevertheless, the path toward a full-stack scalable technology is a work in progress. There are significant outstanding quantum hardware, fabrication, architecture, and algorithmic challenges that must be solved. Here, we show how the road to scaling could be paved by adopting existing semiconductor technology to build much higher-quality qubits and employing system engineering approaches.
Speaker Information
John M. Martinis, a 2025 Nobel Laureate in physics, is a distinguished professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the chief technology officer of Qolab. He received the Nobel Prize alongside John Clarke and Michel Devoret for their foundational 1980s experiments demonstrating that quantum-mechanical behaviors — specifically, macroscopic quantum tunneling — can occur in man-made electrical circuits. This breakthrough laid the structural groundwork for modern superconducting qubits that power today’s quantum computing processors. Previously, he led the quantum hardware effort at Google, where his team achieved the historic milestone of “quantum supremacy” in 2019.
- Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2026
- Time: 4-5 p.m. (seating begins at 3:30 p.m.)
- Location: Rackham Amphitheatre (4th Floor)
University of Michigan Ann Arbor Campus
Prior to the lecture, there will be a reception in the Assembly Hall. The reception will begin at 3:30 p.m.
This is a hybrid lecture. Join us in-person or tune in via livestream: https://myumi.ch/d8Q7X
About the Ta-You Wu Lecture
The University of Michigan’s Department of Physics hosts the annual Ta-You Wu Lecture, which is one of the most prestigious lecture events in our Department. The Lectureship was endowed in 1991 through generous gifts from the University of Michigan Alumni Association in Taiwan. It is named in honor of Michigan Physics alumnus and honorary Doctor of Science, Ta-You Wu, one of the central figures of the 20th century in the Chinese and Taiwanese physics communities.
