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: 20.06.2025 00:31
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
Can you recommend a simple song with an awesome solo? What makes the solo stand out?
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
There you go.^†
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
How do you write lyrics for a song that resonates with listeners?
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
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.
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
Have you ever had a secret crush on anyone?
Whatever.
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
"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?"
Is there anything wrong with me because I'm still single?
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
[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 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.
What are some things that children used to wait for, but are no longer common in today's society?
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
How does gut health affect mental well-being?
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
Whatever.
(Mumbles of assent)
Why does my mother care about my sister more than me?
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
When he's standing, in front of you
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Is having white skin really that attractive?
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
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:
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"