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?
10.06.2025 11:45
When he's standing, in front of you
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
UNC Falls to Oklahoma, Setting Up Winner-Take-All Finale in Regional - 247Sports
"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:
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
What are some common examples of human hypocrisy?
Whatever.
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
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 do men like women gold diggers?
[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."
Whatever.
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
Is the Donald Trump Bible any different from a regular Bible? Has Trump altered its contents?
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
2025 U.S. Nationals: Day 1 Finals Live Recap - SwimSwam
"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?"
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
WWE RAW 6/2/2025: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved - Wrestling Inc.
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? 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.
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.
Inside ‘Inside the NBA’ Transition to ESPN - Front Office Sports
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
There you go.^†
Why do some people enjoy being dominated?
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
(Mumbles of assent)
You can have your cake and eat it too