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?
13.06.2025 09:28
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
"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?"
What parts of the Bible, if any, are inappropriate to read to children? Why?
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Whatever.
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
Were knights’ lances practical weapons, or were they just for sports?
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
There you go.^†
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
How do we greet in German, French, Spanish, and Italian?
[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."
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:
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
What is your favourite colour and why?
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
[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.
Why does he text me first but when I never text first he gets mad?
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
When he's standing, in front of you
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.
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
If there was only one man remaining on the Earth, would this be regarded as extinction?
(Mumbles of assent)
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
How conservative the Japanese people really is? And the government?
"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?"
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.
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences