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?
09.06.2025 06:05
There you go.^†
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:
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
Is UnitedHealth a Millionaire Maker? - Yahoo Finance
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
Why do men think I’m easy just by looking at me?
Whatever.
"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?"
(Mumbles of assent)
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
[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.
Whatever.
Why do wives cheat on their loyal husbands?
You can have your cake and eat it too
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
I’m running away I live in Indiana what states near by are safe I’m 12 no comments?
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
Samsung could drop Google Gemini in favor of Perplexity for Galaxy S26 - Ars Technica
[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."
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
Bruins Hire Former Forward Marco Sturm As New Head Coach - NESN
(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)
"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
Fresh iPhone 17 leak gives first close-up look at next-gen Apple smartphones - Mashable
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.
When he's standing, in front of you