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?
12.06.2025 07:31
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
There you go.^†
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
Who is the beast of Revelation 13?
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
What’s the worst thing you caught anyone in your family doing?
When he's standing, in front of you
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
New rabies cases detected in SLO County. How to avoid deadly disease - San Luis Obispo Tribune
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
"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?"
[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."
Which is the first MV you watched in Stray Kids?
Whatever.
Whatever.
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
Amazon reveals best books of the year so far: Suzanne Collins, S. A. Cosby make the list - USA Today
You can have your cake and eat it too
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
(Mumbles of assent)
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
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:
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
Europe cuts interest rates as Trump's tariffs loom - 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.
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
New Report: Flooding is Now NYC’s Biggest Threat - Boro Park 24
[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.
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
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.