2024 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to AI pioneers
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has announced the winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics. The coveted award was given to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for "foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks." Hopfield is widely known for his study of associative neural networks. He is affiliated with Princeton University in the US. Hinton is a professor of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, Canada.
A tradition of recognizing outstanding contributions
The Nobel Prize in Physics is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It has been awarded 117 times since it was first awarded in 1901, recognizing those who have contributed immensely to the field of Physics. The only laureate to have received this honor twice is John Bardeen, in 1956 and 1972.
The legacy of Alfred Bernhard Nobel
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded as per the will of its founder, Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Bernhard Nobel. The award seeks to honor those who have conferred the greatest benefit on humankind through their work in Physics in the past year. This year's laureates, Hopfield and Hinton, have certainly met this criterion with their pioneering work in machine learning and artificial neural networks.
Take a look at the announcement
A glance at previous laureates and upcoming announcements
The 2023 Physics Nobel was awarded to Anne L'Huillier, Pierre Agostini, and Ferenc Krausz for their research on the tiny part of each atom that races around the center. The Nobel announcements will continue with the Chemistry Prize on Wednesday, Literature on Thursday, Peace Prize on Friday, and Economics award on October 14.
A look at the 2024 Nobel Prize announcements
The 2024 Nobel announcements kicked off with the Medicine Prize, which went to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their work on microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. The Physics Prize comes with cash prize money of 11 million Swedish crowns, which is funded by a bequest left by Alfred. The laureates are invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on December 10, marking the anniversary of Alfred's death.
