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 23:51
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
If Republicans say that Biden goes to shower with his daughter, how do Democrats support 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.
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
Two different time scales could increase quantum clock accuracy exponentially - Phys.org
"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
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why do Indian parents force their kids to do stuff?
There you go.^†
Whatever.
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
When he's standing, in front of you
"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."
What are some good email marketing tools for small businesses?
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
(Mumbles of assent)
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:
Copilot Vision brings Microsoft's screen-watching AI to everyday Windows tasks - TechSpot
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
Whatever.
[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.
How come Trump is so weak in backing down from some tariffs?
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
(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?"
What can you do if you are a full-grown adult, but never experienced being a child?
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*