How did a computer scientist such as Geoffrey Hinton manage to win a Nobel Prize in physics when computer science already has its own Nobel Prize equivalent in the Turing Awards?
Last Updated: 02.07.2025 11:33
When he's standing, in front of you
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
"Hey guys, AI is pretty big so let's centre our prizes on it this year. We can get some attention, and it's all about advertising, at the end of the day, isn't it?"
What are the most important skills a fine artist should develop in today's art world?
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
Whatever.
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
Norris storms to pole in Austria as Verstappen takes seventh - F1
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
[Younger voice] "But wait a minute, Ising-Lenz goes back to the 1920's. And didn't Hinton plagiarise rather a lot? He also didn't invent modern backprop, did he, that's Linnainmaa? And Amari preceded Hopfield, too. That's not a good look."
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Meta – yep, Facebook Meta – is now a defense contractor - theregister.com
In December 1973, when Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, comedian Tom Lehrer dropped his mic and stamped on it—satire had just died.
There you go.^†
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
Measles cases see biggest rise in over a month - The Hill
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
Whatever.
The growing popularity of gaming's surprise hit - gardening - BBC
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
Mysterious sphere named Teleios found floating in the Milky Way - Earth.com
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
In awarding prizes, the Nobel Committees often seem only marginally more competent than MTG is at explaining meteorology. And if they can give a literature prize for lyrics like:
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
Weird-shaped notebooks make me want to write again - The Verge
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
What does it feel like wearing tights?
You can have your cake and eat it too
[The basic structure of artificial neural networks] has close similarities with spin models in statistical physics applied to magnetism or alloy theory. This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes research exploiting this connection to make breakthrough methodological advances in the field of ANN.
(Mumbles of assent)