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: 17.06.2025 13:59
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
Why do liberals refuse to define what a woman is and what does that mean for the future of feminism?
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
You can have your cake and eat it too
(Mumbles of assent)
Whatever.
3 No-Brainer AI Stocks to Buy Right Now - Yahoo Finance
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.
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:
Scientists discover that dogs can alert humans to this quickly-spreading disease - Earth.com
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.
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
How do you perform a lap dance for your boyfriend or husband?
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
How can people balance religious beliefs with seeking professional mental health care?
When he's standing, in front of you
[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.
"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?"
The Aging Brain: 6 Things You Should Be Doing to Slow Cognitive Decline - CNET
^* 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"
[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."
The Club World Cup is finally up and running — and soccer may never be the same - AP News
There you go.^†
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"