"The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of the United States for their work on the 'fundamental interactions between light particles and matter.'"

"'The Nobel laureates have opened the door to a new era of experimentation with quantum physics by demonstrating the direct observation of individual quantum particles without destroying them,' the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement."

"Their work, the Nobel committee says, has laid the foundation for development of a super-fast computer based on quantum physics and precise clocks that could become 'the future basis for a new standard of time.'"