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: 28.06.2025 01:40
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
[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."
(Mumbles of assent)
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
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.
What is that one moment in your life when you felt "I am awesome"?
"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?"
Whatever.
There you go.^†
Keir Starmer calls for Iran to return to negotiating table - BBC
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
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:
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
I tried the 6-6-6 walking challenge for a week and my step count skyrocketed - Fit&Well
You can have your cake and eat it too
Whatever.
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
Wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia returning to U.S. to face criminal charges - Axios
When he's standing, in front of you
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
[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.
A reservoir of gold lies hidden in Earth’s core. Scientists say it’s leaking - CNN