This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics goes to 91-year-old American scientist and Princeton professor John Hopfield and 76-year-old British-Canadian cognitive psychologist and computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton. They receive the prize for the fundamental discoveries and inventions that make machine learning with artificial neural networks possible. The Nobel Committee announced this on Tuesday in the Swedish capital Stockholm.
The inventions of the two scientists turned out to be very important for the development of artificial intelligence. “The two Nobel laureates have used the tools of physics to develop methods that form the basis of powerful machine learning,” the committee said. ‘Machine learning based on artificial neural networks is currently revolutionizing science, technology and everyday life.’
Boltzmann machine
Hopfield invented a network named after him that uses a method for remembering and repairing patterns. Hinton used this Hopfield network as the basis for a new network that uses a different method: the Boltzmann machine. This can learn to recognize characteristic elements in a certain type of data.
The Nobel Prize in Physics is the most important distinction for physicists. The prize is worth 11 million Swedish crown, converted around 970,000 euros. That amount is equally distributed among the two laureates. They also receive a medal and a diploma.
Since the first prize was awarded in 1901, there have been 224 different Nobel Prize winners physics, including only five women. One scientist, the American John Bardenen, has won the prize twice.
