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: 01.07.2025 18:04
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
(Mumbles of assent)
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
When do you feel most peaceful ever?
"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?"
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
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^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
We white women don't like white men. Do you have any issue with that?
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
There you go.^†
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
[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.
Whatever.
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
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.
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
You can have your cake and eat it too
[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."
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
What’s the worst thing you caught anyone in your family doing?
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
When he's standing, in front of you
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:
Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce spotted at wedding in Knoxville - WBIR
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
Whatever.
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
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