UPSC Prelims 2026 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':

Explanation: 

John Clarke was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2025, along with Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis,  for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit. 

• The Nobel Prize official record states that John Clarke was born in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and  was affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley, USA, at the time of the award.
• Michel H. Devoret was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2025, but he was born in Paris, France,  not in the United Kingdom.
• Richard Robson was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025, but the description in the question points to a UK-born professor at an American university among the given options, which matches John Clarke. 
• Joel Mokyr was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2025, but the description given in the question does not identify him among the given options.
  
  

Therefore, option (3) is the correct answer.