Croatian President Zoran Milanović has awarded the Grand Order of King Dmitar Zvonimir with Sash and Morning Star, one of Croatia’s highest state decorations, to Professor John Matthew Martinis, an American physicist of Croatian descent and 2025 Nobel Prize laureate in Physics.
Martinis received the honour for his outstanding contribution to the development of quantum physics and quantum technologies, as well as for proudly promoting his Croatian heritage and strengthening ties between the international scientific community and Croatian academic institutions. President Milanović noted that few people of Croatian origin have received a Nobel Prize in physics and praised Martinis for consistently highlighting his family’s roots on the island of Vis.
Accepting the award, Martinis thanked the Croatian president and said that visiting Croatia felt like “coming home.” During his stay, he visited several Croatian scientific institutions, met with researchers and students, and explored the homeland of his ancestors, expressing hope that his visit would encourage greater scientific cooperation between Croatia and the United States.
Martinis shared the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics with John Clarke and Michel Devoret for pioneering research on macroscopic quantum phenomena in superconductors, work that has laid the foundations for the development of quantum computing. His visit has been widely viewed as an opportunity to inspire future generations of Croatian scientists while strengthening the country’s visibility within the global research community.
