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: 29.06.2025 03:14
Whatever.
When he's standing, in front of you
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
Thomson Reuters Ushers in the Next Era of AI with Launch of Agentic Intelligence - Thomson Reuters
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
[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."
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
This seed is rich in protein, magnesium, and helps grow muscle mass - Earth.com
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
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.
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
You can have your cake and eat it too
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
NBA Trade Rumors Roundup: Kevin Durant trade could happen soon, Clippers in the mix - NBC Sports
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:
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
"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?"
Xbox Continues Quietly Abandoning Physical Games - Kotaku
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
There you go.^†
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
Do you have any controversial and unpopular K-pop opinions?
[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.
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
Whatever.
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
(Mumbles of assent)