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: 19.06.2025 20:50
(Mumbles of assent)
[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"
"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"
There you go.^†
^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).
They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.
States Are Making It Easier to Get Ivermectin - Newser
^† They rationalise their decision thusly:
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
When he's standing, in front of you
What do flat Earthers think causes the "magical downward force"?
"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"
"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."
You can have your cake and eat it too
Is it possible for doctors to diagnose prostate cancer just by looking at a patient?
Whatever.
[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."
"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?"
How are Hinduism and Sikhism related, considering they both originated in Punjab, India?
… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*
Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:
Whatever.
What are your thoughts on the dating app "scam"?
A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"
Do you think this Labour Party is qualified to run our country?
(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?"
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:
Do countries with free health care generally have co-pays or deductibles to discourage use?
[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.
My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.
Why does my sister want to have sex with me? What should I do?